Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Hertz orders 100k Teslas

bloomberg.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

241–250 of 516 posts

Re: Hertz orders 100k Teslas

#241

Post by JoshCole »

FireBeyond wrote: post #204
kenneth wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Takes around 30min to 80% charge a Tesla. Have you ever been to a rental car lot? It's almost always full of cars. And when not full, it's because of the same event everyone is renting for, which doesn't indicate fast turnarounds. There's plenty of extra inventory to charge all the Teslas between customers.

Have you rented recently? Their lots really aren't "always full of cars". A lot of rental companies, especially franchises, have sold a lot of their cars due to reduced demand and insane used car prices.

Not the person you asked the question to, but... I've rented recently (1 month ago). The parking garage was filled with an absurd number of unused cars. There were entire levels of the parking garage which were filled with cars which weren't being used because the rental car companies associated with that floor weren't even open. Meanwhile the rental car operator which was open wasn't even close to having rented out all their cars.

Re: Hertz orders 100k Teslas

#243

Post by kjksf »

FireBeyond wrote: post #227
hndamien wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tesla is the safest car on the road. In fact, the three safest cars on the road.

By metrics that Tesla uses. IIHS, NHTSA, other entities have other thoughts.

He was talking about Tesla having lowest probability of injury in a crash, as measured by NHTSA (and every other agency that does crash testing).

Re: Hertz orders 100k Teslas

#244

Post by Sebb767 »

HWR_14 wrote: post #238
oxfeed65261 wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

According to Car and Driver, a Hertz spokesperson said that ‘customers can return the EVs not fully recharged "for now," a difference from the rules for returning gasoline-powered vehicles.’ https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a38052601/hertz-buying-100...

Sure, but that's "for now". They're not likely to give up that revenue source forever. They'll eventually have parity between the top-off costs for EVs and ICE cars and pocket the lower cost of gas. (although, it could easily not be a lower cost because of the cost in time.)

They will have to, at least for the foreseeable future. Having to rent the car another hour just to get it to a reasonable charge level is going to make gasoline rentals a lot more attractive.

Re: Hertz orders 100k Teslas

#245

Post by FireBeyond »

caf wrote: post #239
FireBeyond wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hertz is poised to make a mint off the people who forget how to open the doors due to muscle memory.

Since some recent software update the mechanical door release now drops the windows a little just like the electrical one.

Huh. Audi owners have had that well, as long as they've had frameless doors.

Re: Hertz orders 100k Teslas

#246

Post by HWR_14 »

zemptime wrote: post #29
zemptime wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hopped in my Tesla for the first time and after a single stop sign where I stopped kind of weird (not honestly that bad), that was it. The Tesla person on the initial lesson assumed I'd driven one before. You get the hang of it really quick. Same story for many other people who've driven my car. If you're not using regenerative breaking it's pretty much like a normal car sans the small acceleration gas cars provide…

Actually a metaphor just came to mind. Imagine you've been playing on a 60hz refresh rate monitor forever. Then, you play your favorite fps on a 120hz refresh rate monitor. That's what the difference feels like.

It seems like in both cases (EVs, 120hz refersh), the majority of people just won't care about either change. But I could be wrong.

Re: Hertz orders 100k Teslas

#247

Post by Sebb767 »

FireBeyond wrote: post #212
KingMachiavelli wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Assuming the rental market is at least somewhat comparative I doubt this will happen. When you return a ICE car partially empty someone has to either bring gas to the vehicle or drive the vehicle to a pump. Even though this is probably on-site it is very labor intensive and most rental places are pretty low staff. I could see future EV ones being entirely self service. Anyway an EV can just be charged where you park…

Estimates are that each supercharger slot costs Tesla over $100,000 for permitting, install, equipment. Have you been to a rental car company lately? Most don't give the impression of being flush with cash. In order to get the best charging speed and turn your cars around, do you see them laying out $100K per vehicle/slot?

That's in public places. When you're doing a few in a row on ground that is already yours, it's going to be quite a bit cheaper. Not cheap, but cheaper.

Re: Hertz orders 100k Teslas

#248

Post by proggy »

eastendguy wrote: post #205
FireBeyond wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right, because bringing it back empty means the car is out of commission for ~12h. The last three times I've rented a car it's been turned and burned and I've had to wait a few minutes for a clean/wash to be complete from the last renter.

I am sure Hertz can afford a 50KW charger at their locations => 1-2h for full charge.

Not to mention that if the charger is on-premise, there is no longer a personnel need to drive gas-depleted cars to an offsite refueling station. That may add up to significant labor savings.

Re: Hertz orders 100k Teslas

#249

Post by HWR_14 »

Sebb767 wrote: post #244
HWR_14 wrote: post #238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, but that's "for now". They're not likely to give up that revenue source forever. They'll eventually have parity between the top-off costs for EVs and ICE cars and pocket the lower cost of gas. (although, it could easily not be a lower cost because of the cost in time.)

They will have to, at least for the foreseeable future. Having to rent the car another hour just to get it to a reasonable charge level is going to make gasoline rentals a lot more attractive.

A lot of people (esp. who aren't paying for it themselves) pre-pay the fill up at the end. Those same people won't notice a difference either way.

Re: Hertz orders 100k Teslas

#250

Post by cranekam »

nroets wrote: post #199
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…

On long trips, there may be one or more Hertz locations near your route. If all of them stock electric cars, Hertz could offer a premium offering where you change cars along the way...

This idea is 150 years old!

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pony_Express

Post reply on HN