Hertz increased its fleet of EV rental cars – then, profits exploded

As others have pointed out, attributing the higher profits to lower EV maintenance costs makes no sense, since rental cars are purchased new and sold after 10-20k miles, which is long before any major ICE-related repairs need to be performed. The only ICE-specific maintenance in the first 10-20k miles is 2-3 oil changes, which seems negligible.<p>I did notice that Hertz charges a flat $35 fee if you return an EV with less than 70% charge, with an additional $25 fee if the battery is below 10% [0]. I wonder if this is a big contributor to the profit margin: people rushing to return an EV rental car may not have time to recharge it to avoid the surcharge, whereas people returning ICE cars have time to refuel them. Also, the surcharge for returning an ICE car without a full tank is much lower; usually around $0.50 per missing gallon.<p>[0] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.hertz.com&#x2F;blog&#x2F;electric-vehicles&#x2F;tesla&#x2F;model-3&#x2F;faq&#x2F;charging-the-model-3&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.hertz.com&#x2F;blog&#x2F;electric-vehicles&#x2F;tesla&#x2F;model-3&#x2F;f...</a>

I’m 100% in the EV train, but this article is weird.<p>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?<p>The statements they have from Hertz say “we made $$$$ from demand coming back to rent cars” and “we spent that $$$$ on buying EVs”.<p>The quotes and facts in the article are not aligned with the point made in the title

Is this really due to Hertz&#x27;s electrification efforts, or just a broader trend (ie. lockdowns ending leading to more car rental use)? If we look at their competitor, we see that their profits rose even more (in percentage terms)[1]. Sure, being &quot;50-60% cheaper to maintain&quot; is nothing to sneeze at, but without analysis into how much that weighs against other factors (eg. depreciation, because electric cars are more expensive) making such bold claims is simply irresponsible.<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.macrotrends.net&#x2F;stocks&#x2F;charts&#x2F;HTZ&#x2F;hertz-global-holdings&#x2F;ebitda" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.macrotrends.net&#x2F;stocks&#x2F;charts&#x2F;HTZ&#x2F;hertz-global-h...</a><p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.macrotrends.net&#x2F;stocks&#x2F;charts&#x2F;CAR&#x2F;avis-budget&#x2F;ebitda" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.macrotrends.net&#x2F;stocks&#x2F;charts&#x2F;CAR&#x2F;avis-budget&#x2F;eb...</a>

Not many details on what components failed or how maintenance is better.<p>I don’t doubt the claims but this feels like greenwashing PR.

According to the OP, Hertz has found that EVs are &quot;between 50-60% cheaper to maintain than gasoline-powered cars.&quot;<p>That&#x27;s a <i>huge</i> difference. It means that the cost of using an ICE vehicle over time is 2x greater.<p>If the figure is anywhere near accurate, ICE vehicles are toast.

I’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.

Rental cars are prime candidates for EVs as they get driven a lot more than the average car. I don&#x27;t own a car, but whenever I rent one I&#x27;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&#x27;ll be doing a lot of driving, so it makes sense (otherwise I&#x27;d just take a few taxis&#x2F;Ubers).

EVs have less maintenance costs than ICEs in general, but they have particularly less maintenance requirements during the for the lifespan rental companies keep their cars, often less then 30k miles. During that time you are really just looking at oil changes, fluids, and filters, which EVs don’t have or have less of.<p>Later in a car’s lifecycle you’ll start seeing things like tires, brakes (better with regenerative!), and trim start needing replacement, along with the battery. My older ICE’s most expensive maintenance issues in the last 2 years were the window regulators all failed- that has nothing to do with the power train.<p>Which is all to say EVs are cheaper to run overall, but they are suited to save even more money for rental companies than individual consumers.

This article is thinly veiled blogspam for the real article: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;thedriven.io&#x2F;2022&#x2F;10&#x2F;31&#x2F;hertz-sees-bigger-profits-as-it-accelerates-transition-to-electric-vehicles-and-lower-costs&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;thedriven.io&#x2F;2022&#x2F;10&#x2F;31&#x2F;hertz-sees-bigger-profits-as...</a>

Though I do think EVs to be better in terms of maintenance. I&#x27;ve had family members drive multiple ICE cars (Corolla and Civic respectively) over 200,000 miles. I honestly doubt modern ICE is that expensive to maintain.

&gt; This is good news for the planet, as studies show that EVs create less carbon pollution than conventional gasoline-powered cars, even after accounting for energy expended to produce, transport, and charge them<p>How about the mining of battery materials and the effect of that? Or the disposal of batteries. This article is pretty biased in that it fails to address the externalities of the entire EV lifecycle.

Maybe after arresting their customer base they decided to revert back to doing actual legitimate forms of business?