Hertz orders up to 175,000 EVs from General Motors
Car rental company Hertz has placed its next major order for electric vehicles: Hertz plans to order up to 175,000 electric vehicles from General Motors by 2027. The first vehicles are to join the Hertz fleet in 2023, however initially, it will not include any of the new Ultium models.
This was announced by both companies in a press release. The vehicles in question are electric vehicles from GM’s Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, Cadillac and BrightDrop brands. Deliveries are scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2023 with the Chevrolet Bolt and Bolt EUV models. The companies did not disclose the financial scope of the agreement.
GM vehicles in Hertz services will include “a wide range of vehicle categories and price points”, Hertz said. Examples cited include compact and mid-size SUVs, pickups and luxury vehicles.
Apart from the Bolt and Bolt EUV, no concrete models are mentioned. Looking at the vehicle classes mentioned, it is obvious that models such as the Chevrolet Equinox EV, Silverado EV, GMC Hummer EV, Cadillac Lyriq and in future probably also the Cadillac Celestiq will be available to Hertz. Also potential point of interest here is the BrightDrop brand, which builds electric vans for commercial use and at first glance does not fit into the classic portfolio of a car rental company – but the vehicles are also increasingly rented or leased in the B2B market.
The car rental company estimates that its customers will drive more than 8 billion miles (12.9 billion kilometres) with electric vehicles in the next five years – a comparable distance to the corresponding number of combustion vehicles. This is expected to save 1.8 million tonnes of CO2 equivalents.
“It’s exciting that two iconic American companies that have shaped the evolution of transportation for more than a century are coming together to redefine the future of mobility in the 21st century,” said Stephen Scherr, CEO of Hertz. “We are thrilled to partner with GM on this initiative, which will dramatically expand our EV offering to Hertz customers, including leisure and business travellers, rideshare drivers and corporates.”
“Our work with Hertz is a huge step forward for emissions reduction and EV adoption that will help create thousands of new EV customers for GM,” said GM CEO Mary Barra. “With the vehicle choice, technology and driving range we’re delivering, I’m confident that each rental experience will further increase purchase consideration for our products and drive growth for our company.”
Hertz is investing to build the largest electric vehicle rental fleet in North America. Tens of thousands of electric vehicles will be available for rent at 500 Hertz locations in 38 states. The company’s current goal is to have a quarter of its fleet electric by the end of 2024. Previously, Hertz had already ordered 100,000 electric cars from Tesla and 65,000 from Polestar.
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