Rental cars are prime candidates for EVs as they get driven a lot more than the average car. I don't own a car, but whenever I rent one I'm putting a lot more miles on it per day than any car I ever owned in the past. I only rent cars when I know I'll be doing a lot of driving, so it makes sense (otherwise I'd just take a few taxis/Ubers).
Hertz increased its fleet of EV rental cars – then, profits exploded
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Re: Hertz increased its fleet of EV rental cars – then, profits exploded
#22I’m a fan of EVs, and drive them. But this is a horrible article. Throwing together few unrelated facts, without any context and making bold claims about how they connect together.
Re: Hertz increased its fleet of EV rental cars – then, profits exploded
#23According to the OP, Hertz has found that EVs are "between 50-60% cheaper to maintain than gasoline-powered cars." That's a huge difference. It means that the cost of using an ICE vehicle over time is 2x greater. If the figure is anywhere near accurate, ICE vehicles are toast.
While those numbers are extremely encouraging, the fact that this is on a new fleet is to be kept in mind. What we know now is that they 50-60% cheaper to maintain during the first couple of years. Let's hope that they are also 50-60% cheaper to maintain over their whole lifetime, but this might not be as assured as one might think due to batteries which are a huge cost.
The best part about exponential curves:
By the time the battery needs to be replaced batteries will be 90% cheaper.
Re: Hertz increased its fleet of EV rental cars – then, profits exploded
#24Not many details on what components failed or how maintenance is better. I don’t doubt the claims but this feels like greenwashing PR.
It's widely known that maintenance costs way less on EVs than on gas-powered cars. There are plenty of data points everywhere to confirm this. EVs are much simpler with way fewer moving parts and fluids to worry about.
I think it remains to be seen, as batteries wear out. That could take years.
Re: Hertz increased its fleet of EV rental cars – then, profits exploded
#25According to the OP, Hertz has found that EVs are "between 50-60% cheaper to maintain than gasoline-powered cars." That's a huge difference. It means that the cost of using an ICE vehicle over time is 2x greater. If the figure is anywhere near accurate, ICE vehicles are toast.
Strange claim, because Hertz's fleets are comprised of new and almost brand new vehicles, which usually only require oil changes. Then they sell them off after accumulating 10,000-25,000 miles, before any real maintenance is required. 20,000 miles is what, 4-6 oil changes?
Oil changes probably explains the difference. We have 70,000 miles on my wife's Tesla and it's never gone in for any maintenance. We've replaced the tires on it twice now (Tesla's do eat tires) and I've replaced the cabin air filter a couple of times and fill up the windshield washer fluid about once a year.
Re: Hertz increased its fleet of EV rental cars – then, profits exploded
#26Not many details on what components failed or how maintenance is better. I don’t doubt the claims but this feels like greenwashing PR.
It's widely known that maintenance costs way less on EVs than on gas-powered cars. There are plenty of data points everywhere to confirm this. EVs are much simpler with way fewer moving parts and fluids to worry about.
> moving parts and fluids
That's where most of the problems come from.
A lot of mechanics are probably not ready to deal with the issues EVs face, though.
Re: Hertz increased its fleet of EV rental cars – then, profits exploded
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
EV maintenance items should only involve tires, air filters, and wiper blades and fluid. My friends with Teslas have reported that these are the only things they've done in 50,000+ miles.
So same as a gas car minus oil changes.
I'm not going to put the entire ICE maintenance list here, but there are a lot more wear items. Brakes, belts, coolant, oil, transmission service, annual emissions inspections.
Radiator or other leaks.. pretty annoying.
The maintenance schedule is definitely more involved.
Edit: lostlogin, sure.. that's a, uhm, certain strategy. No doubt, Japanese cars can usually take an impressive amount of abuse. And yeah, a harsh way to treat a machine you rely on to keep you and your loved ones safe.
Re: Hertz increased its fleet of EV rental cars – then, profits exploded
#28I’m 100% in the EV train, but this article is weird.
It says they ordered a ton of EVs, and that EVs have lower cost of maintenance, awesome - but it provides no evidence that EV maintenance costs actually contributed to the improvements here?
The statements they have from Hertz say “we made $$$$ from demand coming back to rent cars” and “we spent that $$$$ on buying EVs”.
The quotes and facts in the article are not aligned with the point made in the title
Re: Hertz increased its fleet of EV rental cars – then, profits exploded
#29According to the OP, Hertz has found that EVs are "between 50-60% cheaper to maintain than gasoline-powered cars." That's a huge difference. It means that the cost of using an ICE vehicle over time is 2x greater. If the figure is anywhere near accurate, ICE vehicles are toast.
Strange claim, because Hertz's fleets are comprised of new and almost brand new vehicles, which usually only require oil changes. Then they sell them off after accumulating 10,000-25,000 miles, before any real maintenance is required. 20,000 miles is what, 4-6 oil changes?
Here’s an interesting question- do they need to sell off EV’s after only 25,000 miles? Does simple maintenance reduce the turnover rate & associated costs?
Re: Hertz increased its fleet of EV rental cars – then, profits exploded
#30According to the OP, Hertz has found that EVs are "between 50-60% cheaper to maintain than gasoline-powered cars." That's a huge difference. It means that the cost of using an ICE vehicle over time is 2x greater. If the figure is anywhere near accurate, ICE vehicles are toast.
Strange claim, because Hertz's fleets are comprised of new and almost brand new vehicles, which usually only require oil changes. Then they sell them off after accumulating 10,000-25,000 miles, before any real maintenance is required. 20,000 miles is what, 4-6 oil changes?
The article mentions failures. Presumably it's quite an expensive hassle if a customer's car fails and you have to provide them with another one on top of the cost of the actual repair.
Interestingly JD Power claim that EVs have more problems https://techcrunch.com/2022/06/28/jd-power-evs-and-and-plug-... .. but mostly in the infotainment system? Maybe that matters less to rental drivers. Maybe that depends on brand.