Car rental companies have some of the largest vehicle fleets globally. For example, Hertz has about 500,000 vehicles, all of which produce carbon emissions from their tailpipes. However, Hertz is making moves to transition to an electric fleet and has taken a huge by ordering 100,000 electric vehicles from Tesla for $4.2 billion.
The order is made up of Tesla’s Model 3, and they will be available for lease starting in November in the US and Europe. Tesla will make all the deliveries in 14 months.
Hertz will install public chargers, in addition to Tesla’s network of Superchargers. They will include both Level 2 and DC chargers and cover more than 100 countries by the end of 2023.
It has been a wild few years for Hertz, who went bankrupt last year but got bought out by a debt managing company.
Almost immediately after announcing the deal, Hertz and Uber entered into an agreement to lease 50,000 electric cars to drivers on the ride-hailing platform in the US. Uber drivers will pay a weekly amount to use the Model 3 for ferrying passengers.
This deal is a big win for the environment. Apart from taking out thousands of ICE cars from operation, it will make electric cars more available to renters who might be trying them out for the first time. If impressed, the renters can make electric cars their next purchase.
This is the second time an EV maker will get a massive order as online retail giant Amazon in 2019 agreed to buy 100,000 electric vans from Rivian to make package deliveries to its millions of customers.
Tesla has also had an exciting year, with its stock jumping above the 1000 dollar mark at the news of Hertz’s deal, pushing its market capitalization above $1 trillion, by far the most for any car maker. With two new factories near completion in the US and Germany, the American company should have enough capacity to deliver on Hertz’s order.
The Model 3 is the best-selling electric car ever made, and Tesla makes them in the US and China. The company has plans for an electric pickup truck, the Cybertruck, and a class 8 electric truck, the Semi.
Renewable Brief 