Hertz likely will charge customers more to rent the Model 3s compared with conventional vehicles with combustion engines, Ives noted. Still, Ives said he doesn't expect Hertz to receive significant numbers of Teslas until the automaker's new factory near Austin, Texas, starts producing late next year. Automakers have slashed production and sales to rental car companies because of a global shortage of computer chips. Hertz's order may also help alleviate a nationwide shortage of rental cars, he said. “For a company that doesn't normally market, this is the best brand and marketing deal they've ever struck,” he said of Tesla. Ives suggested that the deal will help Tesla and other manufacturers by giving thousands of consumers the experience of driving electric vehicles who might not otherwise have done so. “It's a wake-up call for the rest of the industry as well,” he said. In an interview, Ives said he expected other rental car companies to follow Hertz's lead. But demand in the United States is accelerating, Ives noted, with Tesla leading the way, followed by startup Lucid Motors, General Motors, Ford and others that are chasing a potential $5 trillion market opportunity over the next decade.
The company has a network of about 25,000 chargers worldwide.įields declined to say how much Hertz will charge to rent the Teslas or whether they would be more expensive for customers than gas-powered vehicles.ĭaniel Ives, a technology analyst at Wedbush Securities, wrote in a note Monday to investors that Hertz’s order represents a “major feather in the cap” for Tesla and shows that a broad adoption of electric vehicles is under way “as part of this oncoming green tidal wave hitting the U.S."Ĭhina and Europe have been ahead of the U.S. Many of the sites will be at Hertz locations such as airports, he said, while others will be in suburban areas.Ĭustomers also would be able to use Tesla's own large charging network for a fee, Fields said. Fields said it has plans for 3,000 chargers in 65 locations across the United States by the end of 2022 and 4,000 by the end of 2023. Hertz also is investing in its own charging network. “It's pretty stunning.”įields said that Hertz, which is based in Estero, Florida, is in discussions with other automakers, too, about buying additional electric vehicles as it expands its EV fleet as more models enter the marketplace. “More are willing to try and buy,” he said. He pointed to surveys showing that over the past five years, consumer interest in electric vehicles has grown dramatically. In his interview with the AP, Fields made clear his belief that electric vehicles are increasingly moving into the mainstream and that Hertz intends to be a leading provider of EVs to rental customers. The wealth of CEO Elon Musk, the richest person in the world, grew 11.4% to $255.8 billion, according to Forbes. The Hertz order sent Tesla shares soaring nearly 13% to a record closing price of $1,024.86, and pushed the world's most valuable automaker's total market value to just over $1 trillion. In 2019, Amazon ordered 100,000 electric delivery vans from Rivian, a startup manufacturer of electric van, pickup trucks and SUVs. It also ranks at the top of the list of electric vehicle orders by a single company. The deal likely is worth around $4 billion because each Model 3 has a base price of about $40,000. But he said the company has sufficient capital and a healthy balance sheet after having emerged from bankruptcy protection in June. It also said it will establish its own electric vehicle charging network as it strives to produce the largest rental fleet of electric vehicles in North America.įields wouldn’t say how much Hertz is spending for the order. Hertz said in its announcement that it will complete its purchases of the Tesla Model 3 small cars by the end of 2022. In an interview with The Associated Press, Mark Fields, Hertz' interim CEO, said that Teslas are already arriving at the company's sites and should be available for rental starting in November.
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