That represents around 10% of the fleet owned by the rental company.
Hertz, a car rental firm, ended the initial quarter of the year having 50,000 electric vehicles across its fleet, or about 10% of all the vehicles it had available for rent. Given that the rental giant has tens of thousands of electric vehicles (EVs) from Tesla, Polestar, and General Motors on order, this number is anticipated to significantly increase in the upcoming quarters.
Hertz planned to invest heavily in 100,000 Tesla cars at the end of 2021, which was intended to represent 20% of the fleet overall by the end of 2022. However, as these latest figures demonstrate, the company’s original strategy didn’t actually turn out as it had hoped.
However, the American car rental corporation has kept up its investment in electrifying its business, placing two further orders for 65,000 electric vehicles from Polestar and additional 175,000 from General Motors.
All things considered, there might be an extensive fleet of 340,000 EVs by 2027
Additionally, Hertz has an agreement with the oil giant BP to develop and roll out an extensive nationwide network of EV charging stations powered by BP Pulse for the car rental business and its clients.
Due to rising interest from the leisure and business sectors, the company’s sales in the initial three months of this year reached $2 billion, a 13% year-over-year (YOY) rise.
Hertz’s CEO, Stephen Scherr, claimed that business is booming in all areas:
Our ongoing investments in the company’s affairs, especially in tech and electrification, are improving our operational cadence, extending our reach in ridesharing, and enabling the resurrection of our value brands, according to the company.
In the first quarter, the auto rental company began receiving EV deliveries from GM and Polestar, increasing the selection of zero-emissions vehicles available to clients.
Additionally, the company has a collaboration with Uber that enables drivers to hire an electric vehicle, which is said to enhance their compensation by 10-15% in comparison to a car with an internal combustion engine because of the latter’s higher operational costs.
The Hertz Electrifies programme, which was just introduced by Hertz, intends to enhance the infrastructure for EV charging while also providing chances for nearby students in cities where the programme is now active. Denver has already launched Hertz Electrifies, and Houston and Atlanta will follow.
According to the American car rental industry, there will be two million entirely electric rentals in 2023, a five-fold increase from the previous year.
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