Car rental company Hertz finished the first quarter of the year with 50,000 electric vehicles in its fleet, accounting for approximately 10 percent of the total number of cars in its inventory. This number is expected to rise considerably in the next quarters, as the rental giant has hundreds of thousands of EVs on order from Tesla, Polestar, and General Motors.
At the end of 2021, Hertz announced a massive investment in 100,000 Tesla vehicles, which were supposed to amount to 20 percent of the overall fleet by the end of 2022, but as these most recent numbers show, the company’s initial plan didn’t really work out how it intended.
However, the US-based car rental company has continued to invest in the electrification of its operations, with two subsequent orders for 65,000 EVs from Polestar and another 175,000 battery-powered cars from General Motors.
Adding everything up results in a massive potential fleet of 340,000 EVs by 2027. Additionally, Hertz has a deal with oil giant BP to install and deploy a national network of EV charging solutions for the rental company and its customers, powered by BP Pulse.
In the first three months of this year, the firm generated $2 billion in revenue, an increase of 13 percent year-over-year (YOY) based on higher demand from the leisure and corporate sectors.
Hertz CEO Stephen Scherr said the company is seeing growth across all segments:
“Our continued investments in the business, particularly in the areas of technology and electrification, are improving our operational cadence, extending our reach in rideshare, and enabling the revitalization of our value brands.”
The car rental company has already started receiving deliveries of EVs from GM and Polestar in the first quarter, expanding the zero-emissions models on offer for customers.
Additionally, the entity has a partnership with Uber which allows drivers to rent an EV which can reportedly increase their payout by 10-15 percent compared to an internal combustion-engined car, thanks to the lower operating costs.
Hertz also recently launched its Hertz Electrifies program, which aims to not only improve the EV charging infrastructure but also offer opportunities for local students in the cities where the program is live. Hertz Electrifies is already active in Denver, with Houston and Atlanta to follow.
The American car rental company estimates that its EV rental business will increase five times in 2023 compared to last year, amounting to two million all-electric rentals.
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