Cool, Hertz does something new for once
Hertz invests heavily in electric vehicles
Today, Hertz announced that it has purchased 100,000 Teslas. These will be joining the North American car rental giants by 2022. This order will see electric vehicles make up more than 20% of Hertz's global car rental fleet, and possibly even more of its North American fleet.
Hertz will also be installing thousands more chargers in its network of locations, along with the 3,000 Tesla supercharging stations that renters have access to. It is not clear how supercharging will be billed. Will Tesla offer Hertz renters a special deal or will customers simply be charged the regular price?
Customers will soon be able rent a Tesla Model 3 at Hertz airports and nearby locations in major US markets starting in November 2021. Hertz will offer a unique and premium rental experience for Teslas. This includes digital guidance to educate customers as well as an expedited booking through the Hertz mobile application.
This development is described by Mark Fields, interim CEO of Hertz:
We are seeing increasing global interest in electric vehicles, which is why they are becoming mainstream. Hertz will be the leading mobility company in North America, with the largest EV rental fleet. We also have a commitment to growing our fleet and providing the best rental and charging experience for business and leisure customers.
Hertz will add 100,000 Tesla Model 3s in its fleet
This is a great development!
It can be difficult to rent a car in the United States. This is a great development in the industry and seems to be a win-win situation.
Major car rental companies offer cars that aren't very good. A Tesla Model 3 would be a significant upgrade. I believe there is no other car that performs at the same level in this price range (electrical or gas).
Renting a Tesla Model 3 means you will know exactly what you'll get. This is a huge benefit over renting a car.
This is a great deal for Tesla and will most likely bring in many new customers.
Tesla is the only company that offers rentals of electric vehicles. This is due to Teslas network superchargers. Renting an electric vehicle without superchargers seems a bit pointless to me.
It will be interesting to see how much Hertz charges for Tesla Model 3s. Hertz will be buying many of these cars so the pricing shouldn't be too high since it will account for a large portion of all available cars.
One concern I have is about people getting in a Tesla for their first time. This car performs differently to other gas cars. It has different features, such as the acceleration and autopilot. These cars could be rented by Tesla first-time drivers without any kind of crash course. Were certain features possible to rent?
Bottom line
Hertz will add 100,000 Teslas to its fleet in late 2022. This will account for about 20% of its global fleet. This is a significant development that should prove to be very beneficial for renters, provided the price is not too high.
This would likely lead me to rent with Hertz rather than a competitor (though I've always been very happy with National).
What do you think of Hertz's investment in 100K Teslas
