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Hertz to sell 20k EVs in shift back to gas-powered cars

bloomberg.com

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Re: Hertz to sell 20k EVs in shift back to gas-powered cars

#191

Post by drzaiusapelord »

“[C]ollision and damage repairs on an EV can often run about twice that associated with a comparable combustion engine vehicle,” Hertz CEO Stephen Scherr said in a recent analyst call.

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This is concerning. These cars are essentially delicate ipads with wheels and repairs for them are costly and specialized. Driving, in general, is dangerous and accident prone. Waking up to twice your repair cost or insurance premiums must not be great for Hertz.

Also the article doesn't mention the EV value cut-off unrelated to MSRP. When the battery reaches 50-60% of its top capacity, then range anxiety is back. No one wants a 150-100 mile Tesla, or worse in the winter with the heating on.

Range issues aren't a big deal with regular owners as with regular use they only lose 10-15% range in the first few years, but Hertz drives theses hard everyday, unlike someone with a suburban commute who gets groceries on the weekend. Who knows what their internal data is suggesting. Id be very, very hesitant to buy a Hertz used Tesla. I'd want to see how bad the battery is first, especially what its real world range is in the winter. I wouldnt be surprised because how hard these cars are run, they'll have more battery degradation per year/per mile than a well kept car babied by someone who loves their Tesla.

I just took a look on their website and the long range sedan I'd be interested in at that trim level 2024 model is going to be about $50k. Hertz has a 2022, a less than 2 year old car, with 80k miles for asking $31k. A 40% depreciation in 2 years is very rough.

Their resale value is particularly punishing. Hertz doesn't keep cars for all that long, so a tough depreciation isn't something they can ignore.

Re: Hertz to sell 20k EVs in shift back to gas-powered cars

#192

Post by supportengineer »

alexb_ wrote: post #182

[flagged]

I looked at some of the Hertz listings this morning. I saw a lot of cars with 50k - 80k miles on them. Isn't that about the time they let go of rental cars anyway? I get a lot of rental cars and they usually are new or have ~2,000 miles on them.

Re: Hertz to sell 20k EVs in shift back to gas-powered cars

#193

Post by samketchup »

belltaco wrote: post #174
samketchup wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Granted they're dumping the fleet with degraded battery packs before doing the 15k+ replacement, sure.

Where does this myth come from? Looks it's about 10% battery degradation after 200K miles. Tesla is rating their batteries for 300K to 500K miles. Most American company ICE cars are scrapped by then. Not to mention all the ICE related maintenance costs over that time like oil changes, transmission fluid, timing belts, hoses, etc. etc. You can look at 6 to 10 year Model S cars.

It's not a myth at all, and Tesla's "rating" is a lie. Look at data on Prius battery packs and what Toyota rates them for(100-150k). I understand I'm comparing a hybrid to an EV, but there is much more data and I actually trust Toyota.

Buying an EV with 100k miles and the original battery pack for 20k is a bad idea.

Re: Hertz to sell 20k EVs in shift back to gas-powered cars

#194

Post by cameldrv »

Teslas are extremely expensive to own. As the article says, collision repairs are extremely expensive, partially because of the design, partially because Tesla essentially fully controls the repair market. Also as mentioned in the article, depreciation is very high. I'm not fully sure why this is, but there is to some degree the same effect with luxury brands -- BMW, Mercedes, etc, where a lot of the signaling value is lost when the car is old, but the parts/maintanence are still extremely expensive.

Re: Hertz to sell 20k EVs in shift back to gas-powered cars

#195

Post by stcredzero »

CharlieDigital wrote: post #183

Not sure about the economics for the rental companies, but for a consumer, there are practical reasons why electric aren't quite as attractive. When you rent a car, more than likely you will be in unfamiliar territory. So it seems that it just adds to the stress of travel and yet another thing you have to pay attention to. Will my hotel have charging spots? Will I be able to charge at the client site I'm visiting? Ho…

When you rent a car, more than likely you will be in unfamiliar territory. So it seems that it just adds to the stress of travel and yet another thing you have to pay attention to.

Will my hotel have charging spots? Will I be able to charge at the client site I'm visiting? How do I plan this long leg of the trip that I need to drive?

As a Tesla owner, driver, and 3 times Hertz Tesla renter, let me attest:

    - Hertz staff are poorly trained for Tesla rentals
    - The "must use same credit card" thing is worst than an absolute nightmare
      if one doesn't have the exact same credit card, landing late at night on
      a holiday weekend. The experience is so extremely bad, it sounds fictional!

Re: Hertz to sell 20k EVs in shift back to gas-powered cars

#196

Post by nosequel »

Interesting tidbit at the end.

> Besides costing more to repair when they’re damaged in a crash, Scherr also said, EVs are also getting in more crashes.

then

> Our work with Tesla is to look at the performance of the car, so as to lower the risk of incidence of damage

I'm curious if they are working with tesla to the performance? Are people getting into accidents because they aren't used to teslas' acceleration vs. a typical gas car? Or are people getting into accidents for other performance reasons, eg: cornering / braking?

Re: Hertz to sell 20k EVs in shift back to gas-powered cars

#198

Post by InvertedRhodium »

I drive an EV every day in NZ, but even when I went on a road trip through Arizona/Nevada/California I rented a petrol car simply to avoid the additional overhead of having to worry about the availability of charging infrastructure.

I completely understand why they don’t work well as rental cars.

Re: Hertz to sell 20k EVs in shift back to gas-powered cars

#200

Post by leoh »

TOMDM wrote: post #184
alexb_ wrote: post #182

[flagged]

There are ways to make this criticism where people would take you seriously.

Your comment is equally inflammatory to me. Behind the diction and emotionality of the poster, there are some entirely reasonable points that recapitulate the article itself.
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