Hertz Will Add 100K Teslas To Rental Fleet

Yes, but at what price? Wondering how they will up charge for gas if the car is electric. Maybe make you return the car fully loaded? Just rented a SUV at Sixt last week. Guy tried to convince me that his offer of a Mercedes G Wagon at $700/day was a great day because usually rents for over $800/day. These rental car companies are nuts.

Outstanding news. I routinely pay $130-170 a day to get Model 3s on Turo and generally have a good experience. But the ability to do one ways, worry less about vacuuming/cleaning for returns etc. would be a positive. Fantastic to see electrification of rental options.

That'll be interesting how it plays out, as its generally bad for electric car batteries to constantly charge to 100%. And even if you fill it from the nearest supercharger that is 5 miles from the return location, by the time you drive to return the car it might be at 97 or 98%. Does this mean Hertz will penalize will surcharges because car isn't at 100%?

very positive development, not sure i would want to rent one since i usually put 200+ miles easy when i rent a car and just uber when i dont need to drive much.

Fantastic news. It's about time that a national rental car brand orders electric vehicles.

I remember when rental car companies would up charge for the privilege to rent a Prius. Can’t imagine what “category” they will put a Tesla Model 3 in. Plus these TM3s will get beat up.. doubt they will be anything more than the standard M3. Definitely will be interesting to watch at a Tesla M3 owner, would rather drive something I’m already used to but definitely not at a huge premium.

This is great but locating a charging station may not be that easy in certain markets. I'll admit my first Tesla ride was thanks to an Uber. I absolutely loved it and if I ever am looking for a new car, I'd definitely consider a Tesla.

The point about battery life is great - I hadn’t thought of this, but I would guess Hertz would buy the SR+ with the lower-density LFP battery chemistry that is fine being charged to 100% constantly. But in addition to never being able to drive it onto the lot at 100%, due to charging curve the charging time to shove that last 10% of charge onto the battery would be really painful when you’re hustling to catch a flight. Hopefully Hertz sets policy closer to 80%. The one advantage is that they can “fuel up” a Tesla in the parking garage, so it’s easier to get it ready for the next customer, theoretically. Regardless, I will be renting from Hertz based on this.

Tesla getting into 'fleet' sales at such scale when they only recently were having supply issues says something about waning demand in some segment of Tesla's market.

Big sales to rental car agencies aren't considered 'good' sales for manufacturers - GM, Ford etc call them out specifically

Maybe weakness on the higher end of demand where Porsche, etc are putting out more exciting EVs. And the Model 3 is still too expensive for the larger markets.

Love this. As a Tesla owner, I hate driving another car that isn’t a Tesla. It’s like going back to the horse and carriage days. I’ve had to rent teslas on Turo which requires purchasing additional insurance as credit card insurance doesn’t work. My muscle memory with old cars is gone.

Hertz needs to provide the Model Y though not just model 3s. The Model y in a 7 seat configuration would be a game changer.

So they are adding thousands of Tesla’s yet they can’t add back my 3,000 hertz points that expired 2 months? As they gave no extension of expiring points during Covid for their 18 month rule… 🙁

I can see them having a lot of issues with people having a "dead" car and requiring a tow, at least at first.

I have to say, I just used Turo for the first time and I loved it. I do think it works much better in some locations than others (i.e. works great in HI but would never use it in a major city), but I will most likely be using this rather than the major retailers going forward. It was an incredibly easy process, car was great and just as advertised, and it was literally half the price of any of the major retailers. There were some Tesla options available as well. I couldn't care less about my status with the big companies, but I get it through CC's anyway. Just approach Turo as you would Airbnb - those with lots of reviews, read the reviews and info carefully, and it should be pain free.

So, I book a Tesla and find myself in a Ford Edge. I suspect that is going to happen. That's pretty much my experience with Hertz over the past year or so. They don't have enough cars (let alone in the category booked) to cover all rentals. Regardless, I would be shocked if these Teslas come with unlimited mileage.

I recently rented a Model 3 from Hertz in Norway. They required that it be returned with at least 70% battery charge.

I was thinking it was about time for a major rental car company to team up with Tesla. I might try it in the right scenario but I often times I'm putting thousands of miles on my rentals and the last thing I want to is be waiting around for a battery to charge when I could have a full tank of gas in a couple minutes.

YES!!! This is fantastic news. Like etravelstheworld and Brent, I am a Model 3 owner and it would be worth something extra to me to be able to drive a Tesla Model 3 when I rent a car as well.

It is less difficult to find Superchargers than most people imagine, and downright convenient in some areas of the country. For example, on I-95 on the east coast, there are Superchargers at the Maryland House, Chesapeake House, Delaware House, and quite a few travel plazas on the NJ Turnpike. It's really no more difficult than a gas car. I also drove the Tesla when touring colleges with my now college-aged daughter, and even when visiting some colleges in rural areas--like Gambier, OH (population ~2500)--it was easy to find chargers. You can access this information from the touchscreen in the car by hitting the lightning bolt symbol.

Steve--The Model 3 with the bigger battery can get 310 miles without being recharged, so a 200+ mile trip is no problem!

I'm guessing Tesla will be a separate car class you can choose so that customers would only choose it if they specifically know and want a Tesla.

Not sure I buy this.

100,000 Teslas is a 100,000 sales the legacy car makers didn't get. I bet they're not too happy about it, either.

To some extent there is probably a halo effect for Tesla in having long wait times for customers, anyway. It makes buyers feel like they are part of a small club.

Partnering with Hertz also makes it much easier for people to get a taste for Tesla and electric vehicles. It's a great piece of exposure for them and it could also lead to rapid expansion of the supercharger network. Seems smart to me.

Giving credit to all rental companies when they are due. Not just when one big order with little detail emerges.

Hertz have been renting out EV for years. Enterprise have been renting out Tesla for years, other EV in some markets even longer. They are expanding their fleet of EVs this year. National possibly will see them at most major locations by next year.

To people asking about battery logistics. It's a nightmare. Have to wait and see what Hertz's policy will be for a more official large fleet.

In theory, Hertz or Enterprise have a charger (most still don't) and will fully charge the cars before renting them out.
In reality, your battery charge is at the mercy of the previous renter. You can rent off with 5% and return with at 1% battery. Nightmare!!!!! I have to give up my EV to ICE few times because of this. Those 30 mins spent charging counts
With Tesla, you probably will get "free" charge only at their supercharges.

@Lucky
"Unfortunately Tesla is the only electric vehicle company where rentals like this are practical, thanks to Tesla’s network of superchargers; renting an electric car without access to superchargers seems rather pointless to me"

FAKE NEWS ALERT!!!!!!!!!
This is a very ignorant statement from someone who doesn't fact check. (Hat tip to Anti Vaxxers and Facebook)

In states that EV are very popular, there are abundant access to DC charging stations. If you are renting in CA, it's probably as easy to find a fast charging station as finding homeless people.
Yes, most people are not educated in this technology and will write-off anything non Tesla.
Yes, infrastructure will be a problem in the future when the whole world switches to EV. Lucky for USA that might not be a near future problem, we will probably be among the last in the world to get rid of fossil fuel cars, until the cars turn into a fossil.

But today that is FAKE NEWS. Access to superchargers isn't a problem, especially the markets that they rent out EVs.

Very intriguing. I am not sure I want to buy an EV or not, but this would be a great way to try one out. Regardless, this announcement has done very good things for my Tesla shares today!

When I rent cars in the US (which I do quite frequently, returned a Ford Expedition Max to Hertz yesterday), I tend to have pretty busy schedules and drive a LOT of miles. At least a couple of thousand miles per week, not seldom in rural areas. Would def not want an EV for that purpose. Will stick to gas powered cars for as long as I can for car rentals. And I say this as an EV owner (picking up a new Polestar 2 long range this week).

Seeing some massive premiums unfortunately. Looking across a variety of months next year renting at MIA I'm seeing $200-$500 daily for the Model3. Compare that to my guaranteed rate of $40/day for a standard car (which I think is a pretty typical rate booking far ahead).

A Tesla is easy to drive. I don’t see any difficulty. The biggest problem for me would be the access to charging infrastructure. This is definitely an upgrade to the rubbish they maintain in their fleet, currently.

No, Tesla is not the only obvious choice, and no, you don't need their supercharger network to make owning or driving an EV work. But Tesla fanboys can't be told otherwise....

There are so many new opportunities.

Imagine, Hertz activates the Valet mode ( which - most importantly- constrains acceleration) to avoid risky driving.

Then crashes with beginners shouldn't be a problem.

Also a Tesla is perfect for a fully digitalized rental experience. It leads the way to a 1-car-model-rental-company. Or 2 when Y is joining. This simplifies operations and just follows Tesla's strategy.

My biggest concern is that this will drive down used car prices.

A plattform where Tesla owners can exchange their Teslas would be so cool. What do you think?

Amen, thanks for calling out BS on Tesla being the only reliable charging option. Clearly @Lucky has never owned or driven any other EV.

Hopefully Hertz doesn't put the Tesla's in "Chill Mode." If that's the case, these Tesla's would NOT be a major upgrade over the current fleet. In Chill mode a Model 3 is probably than a Toyota Corolla. Tesla keeps their loaner cars in Chill mode and they're slow and boring to drive.

No rental company actually wants customers that are driving thousands of miles a week unless they are paying exhorbitant one-way fees.

Teslas come with adapters for other charging formats, the reverse isn't true.

Plus how will billing work? Tesla superchargers (not destination chargers) are tied to a Tesla account. Will Hertz bill you for supercharging separately (adding some massive surcharge on for the 'convenience' of it)?

Sixt was great for counter upgrades when they first came to the U.S. market, but they clamped down on that pretty quick. Back in 2017 I rented a G-wagen for a $+50 and an S550 for $+20 per day. They appeared to give the front-line workers complete latitude to negotiate down from much higher (but not stratospheric) initial offers.

Perhaps they will have a distance or kilometre restriction as they had in the past

Obviously Tesla considers the lost revenue of fleet sales as an advertising expense. If the Teslas are stock and not deactivated some of these renters will decide to buy.

Ya, I want to rent a Tesla...while I'm staying at a hotel that 9 times out of 10 will not have a charger. My favorite thing to do on vacation is wait, as my vehicle recharges.

Good for extensive text drive if you are in the market for a new car and Tesla is under consideration.

I've owned two EVs and the don't-charge-to-100% is an urban legend. Absolutely no problem with Level 2 charging and the concern with Level 3 charging is battery temperature, not charge percentage. The fast and ultra-fast chargers that I've used typically slow the charge starting around 80% and stop around 95%.

I have many questions.

Well done Hertz!

Good idea, just like how having rented a Silvercar years ago convinced me to buy an Audi Q7!

@Seattle Eric

The reverse isn't true because of adaptors.
The reverse isn't true because Tesla superchargers "refuse" to charge non Tesla. In other words, Tesla chargers are racists.

All those plugs actually talks to the car.

You and Felix down below should never work for a car rental company.

As a rental car company, you want your customers to be happy.
Do you ever see any exotic car rentals have speed limiters (other than set by manufacturer)?

Like the broken health insurance system in USA.
Cars also have a broken insurance system. As a result, Hertz doesn't care if you totaled their Tesla. They will bill you or your insurance for the loss at maximum.

If you're irresponsible enough to crash your car, you should be prepared to pay for it. And did I mention that insurance won't cover reckless driving accidents?

And add to Felix, I will never rent a 1-car-model-rental more than once, ever.

@Dom

It's not an urban legend, but hey if Covid vaccines can be urban legend, so can this.

Well, do what ever you want with your cars but battery chemistry, especially lithium has proven otherwise. You are correct about the temperature part, but that's about the only thing.

Same concept with brand new iPhones that at 100% last 10 hours and your 2 year old iPhone also at 100% last only 3 hours. But if your iPhone says 100% then your battery must be fine?
What you don't understand is the battery cells and their controller. The key is balancing the life of every cell. Why do you think L3 slows down at 80%, to piss people off and make them wait longer, or to not overload the battery cells?

By the way, you sound just like this.

I've had 'Covid' and the 'vaccine' is an urban legend. Absolutely no problem with 'monoclonal antibodies' and the concern with 'Covid' is 'politics', not 'vaccines'. The 'Covid patients' typically 'have a survival rate at' around 80% and stop around 95%.

The transaction is reportedly above $4bn, so I'm not sure Tesla will even have lost any revenue - that works out at $40,000+ per vehicle.

Factor in a potential service contract and they may be quids in.

I don't know the situation in the US, let me start with that. However: when you rent an ICE, you can pay the needed gas with cash or credit card. At least in Europe, you can't pay that easily for the electricity. You need a special card to do that.

That might be a reason that Tesla is the best option: if charging at superchargers is the only option to add those costs to the rental bill.

I’m in the same boat. Renting non-Tesla’s is always mystery. Lane changes, driving in congested areas, and navigation are so much easier in a tesla. For those that have range anxiety, its not really a problem when you get about 300 miles per charge and if you need to refuel, the car automatically navigates to a supercharger along your route. I’d recommend that Tesla build the final refueling charge into the price of the rental. That way, if you are near empty, there’s no need to spend 30 min or so at a charger.

Oh, it's Hertz, huh? Get excited for $300 "failure to recharge" fees assessed to your rental even though you dropped it off with >85% battery. Let me know when a decent car rental company like National does something with EVs.

Hertz will not be paying full price for the Teslas. The House reconciliation spending bill includes a 30% tax credit for “qualified commercial electric vehicles.” So you and I will be paying about $12,000 for every Tesla Hertz buys.