In the US, car rental company Hertz is becoming increasingly desperate to reduce its EV fleet:
Hertz has contacted multiple electric vehicle renters recently with interesting low-cost offers for cars like Teslas, offering them the option to buy their rental EVs instead of returning them. One 2023 Model 3 renter shared on Reddit that they were offered a price of $17,913, which is similar to deals currently showing on the Hertz Car Sales site. However, the rental they were in had about 30,000 miles on it — fewer than other current listings.
This is a trend that has been ongoing for a while for the company:
Last year, Hertz decided to scale back its big ambitions to electrify its rental fleet due to low customer demand and repair difficulties on some models, including the Tesla Model 3. Then, in February, Hertz said it would no longer buy Polestar 2 vehicles either before marking 30,000 Teslas to sell off from its rental fleet.
Meanwhile, in China, the picture looks dramatically different – recent headlines include “China’s EV sales to surpass traditional cars by 2025 amid slower U.S. and Europe adoption” and “China’s EV adoption projected to reach 80% by 2035.”:
Links to Hertz article and China EV report.
