Hertz to add 65,000 electric cars from Polestar

The car rental company Hertz and the electric car manufacturer Polestar have entered global cooperation. Hertz will purchase up to 65,000 Polestar electric cars over five years.

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In Europe, the first vehicles are expected to be delivered in spring 2022, and in North America and Australia at the end of 2022, according to Polestar. The manufacturer does not precisely quantify the financial scope of the agreement.

At this point in time, this is probably also difficult to do: it is only a general matter of 65,000 Polestar-branded vehicles, not specific models. At present, the Swedish Geely brand has the Polestar 2, a mid-size electric sedan, in its programme; the Polestar 3, Polestar 4 and Polestar 5 models will follow in the coming years. Since the exact distribution of the 65,000 vehicles among the model series and the prices for the forthcoming models have not yet been determined, it is difficult to quantify the precise volume. The only clear thing is that Hertz will order the Polestar 2 “first”.

Instead, it generally says that the partnership is part of Hertz’s ongoing commitment to “lead in electrification, shared mobility and a digital-first customer experience”. Hertz had ordered 100,000 electric cars from Tesla in October 2021.

Similar to the Tesla deal, where up to 50,000 Model 3s will be made available to Uber drivers, the rental company will also expand Polestar’s “offering to ride-sharing services”, according to the Swedes. However, specific ride-sharing services or the share of the 65,000 vehicles are not mentioned.

“Today’s partnership with Polestar further builds on our ambition to become a leading participant in the modern mobility ecosystem and doing so as an environmentally-forward company,” said Stephen Scherr, CEO of Hertz. “By working with EV industry leaders like Polestar, we can help accelerate the adoption of electrification while providing renters, corporate customers and rideshare partners a premium EV product, exceptional experience and lower carbon footprint.”

Polestar CEO Thomas Ingenlath added: “We are delighted that Hertz has chosen Polestar as a strategic partner on their road to electrification. The partnership with a global pioneer like Hertz will bring the amazing experience of driving an electric car to a wider audience, satisfying a broad variety of our mutual customers’ short- and longer-term mobility requirements. For many of them it may be the first time they have driven an EV, and it will be a Polestar.”

Update 13 June 2022:

Polestar has begun delivering to Hertz the 65,000 electric cars the car rental company ordered in April, as described above. Hertz will initially receive the Polestar 2. The agreement also includes future Polestar models such as the Polestar 3, the company’s all-electric SUV, which will make its world debut in October 2022 as reported.

The automaker does not specify how many Polestar 2 cars they initially handed over. The start of deliveries underscores their “operational capability as a relatively mature brand in a space heavily populated by early-stage start-ups,” stated the company.

“We’re excited to add this first delivery of Polestars to our fleet, expanding the opportunities for Hertz customers to enjoy the experience of driving an electric vehicle,” said Darren Arrington, executive vice president, revenue management and fleet acquisition at Hertz. Polestar CEO Thomas Ingenlath adds, “Our partnership with Hertz is an exciting milestone that provides the opportunity for a significant number of potential new customers to experience an EV for the first time, and it will be in a Polestar. With over 55,000 Polestar cars already on the road across our 25 live markets, there is no doubt that our brand is growing at an incredible pace.”

In addition to the Polestar 2 and the upcoming Polestar 3, Hertz has added another model from the Swedish-Chinese manufacturer: Polestar says an undisclosed number of Polestar 1 cars will join the rental company’s so-called Dream Fleet. As is well known, the Polestar 1 is still a plug-in hybrid.

Update 15 August 2022:

The first 100 Polestar 2 were delivered to Hertz locations in Australia, as part of the larger purchase of 65,000 Polestar EVs that was announced in April of last year as reported above. In the late 2022 or early 2023 time frame, Herz Australia will also start receiving units from the upcoming Polestar 3 SUV.

According to the online publication Electric-Vehicles, in June this year, the Polestar 2 model was the best-selling EV model in Australia with 201 units sold. In the first half of this year overall, the model came third place in sales, only behind Tesla Model 3 and Hyundai Kona, even though the Polestar 2 has only been available in Australia since March.

The VP of Hertz, Eoin MacNeill, told The Driven: “As we work through our partnership with Polestar, we get more allocation for Australia. We’re really excited about the Polestar 2 (as part of this launch) and then following that, obviously, the Polestar 3 when that becomes available, it will be part of our mix.”

polestar.com, polestar.com (update June ’22), evcentral.com.au, eletric-vehicles.com (update August ’22)