As you likely have noticed, electric vehicles haven’t exactly taken off as planned or advertised. Among other issues, rental companies like Hertz are realizing that EVs are perhaps not the way to go.
According to a recent Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) report, the Hertz rental car company is pretty much being forced to cut costs and its consistent losses when it comes to EVs. And that means a whopping 20,000 EVs are to be sold off from their US fleet. This is about one-third of the company’s global fleet.
“The company expects this action to better balance supply against expected demand of EVS.”
Now, what this means is that there are a few problems with having so many EVs.
First and foremost, a majority of consumers aren’t exactly interested in them, especially after basically having EVs thrust down our throats for a while now.
Secondly, as Hertz explains, EVs are more expensive to insure and maintain.
As the filing says, “expenses related to collision and damage, primarily associated with EVs, remained high in the quarter, thereby supporting the company’s decision to initiate the material reduction in the EV fleet.”
Hertz’s CEO Stephen Scherr says that it costs about “twice in terms of damage cost repair than a conventional internal combustion engine vehicle.” So, basically, having so many EVs has become quite the money pit for the rental company.
According to the Engadget website, Hertz bought 100,000 Teslas in 2021 and had plans to buy 65,000 EVs from Polestar in the coming years. However, that plan has been reduced as well.
Perhaps as EV popularity rises, making prices and repairs go down, Hertz and others will be able to increase their fleet once more. In the meantime, reality says that day is a long way off.