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Hertz orders 100k Teslas

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Re: Hertz orders 100k Teslas

#131

Post by esalman »

mikestew wrote: post #107
esalman wrote: post #106

My in-laws fancied a Tesla for their vacation in Austin TX. They could not even get to San Antonio, which is hardly an hour away. They had to switch it out for a regular car. Tesla basically rides on their marketing propaganda. I'll stick to my 35mpg Toyota SUV thank you.

If a Tesla couldn't go 80 miles, there was something wrong with it (like, someone forgot to charge it), just like there would be something wrong with an ICE that couldn't make that same trip (like, someone forgot to put fuel in it). Hell, my ten year old Nissan Leaf could almost make that trip with ten years of battery degradation. So the Tesla either wasn't charged, or we're missing a key piece of the story.

You're right, I left some pieces out for brevity. To elaborate, they were not picking up the Tesla from Austin and started for San Antonio straight away. They were vacationing, and as all vacationers do, they went sightseeing, eating out etc. and by the time set off for San Antonio, were not sure if they'll make it, then charging was an issue. Multiple factors combined to convince them that the Tesla is no good when you don't have a plan.

Re: Hertz orders 100k Teslas

#132

Post by JeffL »

greatgib wrote: post #129

Is it just me that see that something funky is going on there? Hertz is just out of bankruptcy, and immediately they order 100,000 Tesla to be delivered, and so paid I guess, in just 1 year! Let's imagine that they have the Tesla with a very good discount: 30000$ a piece. That would cost them: 100 000 x 30 000 = 3 000 000 000 $ I have hard time to believe that they have that cash in hand, or that they can borrow that…

Supposedly rental car companies keep their cars an average of 13 months and are constantly turning over their fleet. This order is over at least a year, so I imagined it's just that they will be buying Model 3's instead of whatever else. The advantage is their service costs and depreciation will be greatly reduced and they can keep the Tesla's 2-3x longer before needing to replace them. This should be a huge reduction in their costs. I would guess they buy their cars with debt anyway, so not like they need to plunk down $4b all at once.

Re: Hertz orders 100k Teslas

#133

Post by JeffL »

ericmay wrote: post #5
zht wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably cause it’s hard to get people to charge them before they get returned

I'm not sure that should be a problem so long as they are returned . I don't know the exact turn-around times for rental car companies but you can charge a Model 3 to full in 5 hours or so with a 240. Though I think another issue could be wear and tear on the battery as you're not supposed to charge to full - can rental companies software lock the charge rate? Not yet as far as I know.

These cars are probably going to use the cheaper iron based batteries which are fine to charge to 100%.

Re: Hertz orders 100k Teslas

#134

Post by JeffL »

quequeque wrote: post #112
mikestew wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If a Tesla couldn't go 80 miles, there was something wrong with it (like, someone forgot to charge it), just like there would be something wrong with an ICE that couldn't make that same trip (like, someone forgot to put fuel in it). Hell, my ten year old Nissan Leaf could almost make that trip with ten years of battery degradation. So the Tesla either wasn't charged, or we're missing a key piece of the story.

I don't know nearly enough about electric cars, but I was under the impression their battery performance severely drops off in extreme heat and cold. On an extremely hot day (say 112F/44C) what is the maximum distance which you can traverse?

The older Tesla's do lose up to 30% range in the cold, but all the currently sold Teslas have heat pumps which largely fixed that problem. It's true that you won't get your rated range unless you're driving on the level and not going faster than 55, but you'll get more than enough range to get between Superchargers on road trips or to putter around town all day. If you want to putter around town all day and then leave for a road trip, you better super charge in between.

Re: Hertz orders 100k Teslas

#135

Post by reustle »

randyrand wrote: post #122
thehappypm wrote: post #77

Electric cars are actually a very good fit for many rentals. Thinking through my last 5 rentals. A wedding that was 1 hour from an airport, ~100 miles RT. A ski trip where I wanted to drive from Denver to my AirBnB near Winter Park Colorado, ~200 miles RT. A hiking trip where I needed a second car for a point-to-point car shuttle (New Hampshire!), ~120 miles RT. A bachelor party where I needed to drive from the airpo…

Kind of a big annoyance if your hotel does not have chargers though. Especially if you already booked it.

Just checked. At least Booking has a "ev charging station" filter when searching for places to stay.

Re: Hertz orders 100k Teslas

#136

Post by ethagknight »

greatgib wrote: post #129

Is it just me that see that something funky is going on there? Hertz is just out of bankruptcy, and immediately they order 100,000 Tesla to be delivered, and so paid I guess, in just 1 year! Let's imagine that they have the Tesla with a very good discount: 30000$ a piece. That would cost them: 100 000 x 30 000 = 3 000 000 000 $ I have hard time to believe that they have that cash in hand, or that they can borrow that…

I think you are thinking about it wrong. A lender will happily lend $3B discounted slightly because the loan is secured by… $4B worth of Teslas thanks to that bulk purchase discount. Now, imagine if that lender is Tesla Financing Arm N.A.

It’s not a bet concerning whether or not Hertz has $3B cash on hand, it’s a bet if the lender thinks Hertz branding is good enough to pay the note. I would bet so.

Finally, there may well be a cross-collateralization with the Hertz family to make this deal pencil out.

Re: Hertz orders 100k Teslas

#137

Post by [deleted] »

gruez wrote: post #60
akmarinov wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In what sense? They’re quite a bit quicker than ICE cars and regeneration is something you need to get used to, but nothing that’s radically different. With these the big issue would be charging them - people might not know not to go to a gas station. Also wonder how the “full tank” policy will work with EVs where ideally you want to hover around 80% Where they might not be suitable rental cars is the reliability. Th…

>Also wonder how the “full tank” policy will work with EVs where ideally you want to hover around 80% I thought for electric cars, that's already baked in? in other words, the car displays 100% and stops charging, but the battery is actually 80% charged. Also, I think for electric cars, they'll waive the "full tank" requirement or charge you a reasonable amount to make up the difference (cost of electricity plus a sm…

[deleted]

Re: Hertz orders 100k Teslas

#138

Post by jlev »

bkev wrote: post #88
SideburnsOfDoom wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> As a non-Tesla owner, I'd love to rent a Tesla on my vacations just to try it before deciding on buying one. Me too. I actually looked into that a few months ago. In Boston Massachusetts, there is this place: https://www.teslarents.com/ But we were going to San Francisco not Boston, and there was nothing that I could google up. With the exception of Oslo, Norway; I've never seen so many Teslas as I did in the Bay a…

Try Turo. There tend to be quite a few Teslas there. https://turo.com/

I rented a Tesla on Turo a few years ago, it was a blast to drive.

It is so choice. If you have the means, I highly recommend renting one.

Re: Hertz orders 100k Teslas

#139

Post by cannaceo »

randyrand wrote: post #122
thehappypm wrote: post #77

Electric cars are actually a very good fit for many rentals. Thinking through my last 5 rentals. A wedding that was 1 hour from an airport, ~100 miles RT. A ski trip where I wanted to drive from Denver to my AirBnB near Winter Park Colorado, ~200 miles RT. A hiking trip where I needed a second car for a point-to-point car shuttle (New Hampshire!), ~120 miles RT. A bachelor party where I needed to drive from the airpo…

Kind of a big annoyance if your hotel does not have chargers though. Especially if you already booked it.

Hasn’t been an issue for me in years now that supercharging is much faster but it’s still an inconvenience to stop for 20-30 minutes.

Re: Hertz orders 100k Teslas

#140

Post by blendergeek »

ricardobeat wrote: post #34
akmarinov wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In what sense? They’re quite a bit quicker than ICE cars and regeneration is something you need to get used to, but nothing that’s radically different. With these the big issue would be charging them - people might not know not to go to a gas station. Also wonder how the “full tank” policy will work with EVs where ideally you want to hover around 80% Where they might not be suitable rental cars is the reliability. Th…

With the new LFP batteries the recommended charge level is always 100%.

The new LFP batteries are still a future thing here in the USA for Tesla.
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