Post-Covid, post-bankruptcy Hertz is all-in on electric, with big implications for the EV, auto and rideshare market
Tesla Model 3 electric vehicles at a Hertz neighborhood location.
Hertz
Consumers may be on the fence about whether it’s yet time to buy EVs, but car-rental giant Hertz Global Holdings has made the leap.
Markets boosted shares of Estero, Fla.-based Hertz after its recent earnings report, as first-quarter revenue hit $2 billion and per-share earnings of 39 cents handily beat forecasts of 21 cents a share. But behind the short-term numbers is the company’s long-term adjustment to big changes in transportation, tourism and energy: Hertz is going electric.
The company plans to have 25% of its 500,000 vehicle fleet be electric by the end of 2024, up from 10 percent now, as it accelerates purchases under its deals to buy 330,000 vehicles from Tesla, Polestar, and General Motors. These deals began to roll out last year, after Hertz’s first Teslas hit the road in 2021 and experiments with rental EVs extended back over the past decade. GM vehicles are beginning to arrive in quantity now, Hertz CEO Stephen Scherr said on the company’s earnings call.
“At the end of [March], we had about 50,000 electric vehicles in our fleet, comprising approximately 10% of total cars,” Scherr said.
Recent price declines in the market as Tesla started a war for market share in a softer economy — though it recently moved prices back up — have helped the rental car company with its buying spree.
“I think the drop in price on EVs is an encouraging proposition for us in that if I’m 10% moving to 25%, and I’ll get higher from there, I’m obviously a happier and a better buyer at a lower price point than not,” Scherr said.
The company is forecasting nearly 2 million EV rentals in 2023, approximately 5 times the number of last year, he said.
Over time, EVs have the potential to remake the business model for rental car firms, according to Oppenheimer & Co. analyst Ian Zaffino.
For the rental car company, depreciation expense from EVs is lower than internal-combustion engine vehicles because Hertz keeps electric cars longer, and partly because they are cheaper to operate and anchor rideshare programs, another area where Hertz keeps cars longer. Rental car companies like Hertz and its rival Avis Budget Group keep them longer, Zaffino said, and at least for now, charge a premium price for many EVs, though a Hertz spokeswoman declined to confirm an average price for EVs or gasoline-powered vehicles.
Uber deal, rideshare market benefits rental car companies
The popularity with rideshare drivers who rent them by the week or month, allows rental firms to save on routine expenses like cleaning and contain marketing costs, though Deutsche Bank analyst Chris Woronka notes that rideshare drivers pay a lower average daily rate than other clients.
A traditional vehicle loses as much as 1.25% of its value each month, while EVs lose about 0.85% to 1%, Zaffino said. Multiply that by the 200,000 to 300,000 vehicles the company sells in any given year and the savings are substantial, he said.
“The more the vehicles hold their value, the less it costs to hold them,” Zaffino said.
That helps Hertz, which also owns the Dollar and Thrifty brands, to hold onto cars longer and buy fewer of them than it otherwise would, he said.
Hertz has also told analysts that the growing EV rideshare market can be a buffer against traditional quarterly peak to trough experienced in the leisure business.
As Covid pushed Hertz’s rental metrics down by nearly 50 percent, the ridesharing business was looking to recover from its own Covid-created downturn. So players like Uber and Lyft were primed to make deals with rental-car companies like Hertz and Avis.
Hertz’s deal with Uber lets drivers rent EVs for as little as $285 a week for a GM car like a Chevy Bolt EUV, rising to $334 and up for a Tesla Model 3 and higher for a Model Y SUV.
The benefits of using an EV begin with a $1 per ride credit to the driver for using an EV, Uber spokeswoman Alix Anfang said. Drivers also save on gasoline and depreciation. In addition, the driver is eligible for higher-priced fares under the company’s Uber Comfort Electric service, which is between the mid-tier Uber Comfort plan, which focuses on newer or more luxurious vehicles, and the more expensive Uber Black service. Rental fees also cover the driver’s commercial insurance, she said.
“We have a great EV story to tell – a few actually,” Anfang said in an e-mail. “We’re kicking off some driver education events to help with our mission to get them into EVs.”
An Uber-dedicated charger at a BP Pulse electric vehicle charging station in central London, U.K., on Monday, April 11, 2022.
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Hertz says the average driver renting an EV rather than a gas-powered Hertz car will earn 10 to 15 percent more overall, and that 50,000 Uber drivers have rented an EV through Hertz, driving them more than 260 million miles. Uber says 4.1% of its U.S. miles driven are in an EV, eight times more than the general population.
That’s backed up by Tracy Lynn Young, who has driven for Uber in metro Atlanta for seven years. She pays $340 a week for her Tesla, and says she can bank $1,800 driving on a busy weekend, thanks partly to the EV incentives and the curiosity of riders who request a Tesla because they’ve never been in an EV. The incentives alone nearly pay for the car, she said.
Bonus: Her charging costs $120 a week less than her gas once did, monthly maintenance is included, and she’s saving her own car, which had racked up 95,000 miles in two years working as a rideshare driver and real-estate salesperson.
“When they want comfort, they want a ride in a Tesla,” Young said. “A lot of people want a ride in a Tesla [so] they can experience it.”
Business travel is half of Hertz rentals and is going electric
The company also benefits from the push for environmentally-focused corporate management, Zaffino said. Hertz gets almost exactly half of its rentals from business travelers, and many companies are turning to electric vehicle rentals as part of broader plans to reduce their carbon footprints, he said.
Hertz offers consumers incentives to assuage concerns about EVs’ range and scarce charging facilities, and to prod them to try the new cars, the company said.
Hertz, which has a partnership with BP‘s Pulse for the build-out of EV charging infrastructure at Hertz locations in major U.S. cities to serve both its customers and the public, isn’t charging customers for recharging if vehicles are returned at least 70 percent charged, and the company offers an option where the EV can be returned with a charge as low as 10 percent of capacity for a $35 up-front fee. It’s also offering 30 percent discounts on prepaid May EV rentals, using the early part of the summer travel peak to promote its transition.
“I think adoption will sort of continue to take hold,” Scherr told analysts on the recent earnings call.
He pointed to requirements on the way in cities across the U.S. that will require Uber and Lyft networks to be all-electric “by some date in the not-too-distant future” — five to seven years from now. “I would say to you that I think Hertz and our EV fleet is the most affordable entry point for drivers to get into those electric vehicles and use them,” he said. “And needless to say, I’m happy in that we get more of these EVs on rent at attractive rates but maybe most importantly, at attractive margins in terms of what we see happening.”
Environment
CPSC warns Rad Power Bikes owners to stop using select batteries immediately due to fire risk
In an unprecedented move, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has issued a public safety warning urging owners of certain Rad Power Bikes e-bike batteries to immediately stop using them, citing a risk of fire, explosion, and potentially serious injury or death.
The warning, published today, targets Rad’s lithium-ion battery models RP-1304 and HL-RP-S1304, which were sold with some of the company’s most popular e-bikes, including the RadWagon 4, RadRunner 1 and 2, RadRunner Plus, RadExpand 5, RadRover 5 series, and RadCity 3 and 4 models. Replacement batteries sold separately are also included.
According to the CPSC, the batteries “can unexpectedly ignite and explode,” particularly when exposed to water or debris. The agency says it has documented 31 fires linked to the batteries so far, including 12 incidents of property damage totaling over $734,000. Alarmingly, several fires occurred when the battery wasn’t charging or when the bike wasn’t even in use.
Complicating the situation further, Rad Power Bikes – already facing significant financial turmoil – has “refused to agree to an acceptable recall,” according to the CPSC. The company reportedly told regulators it cannot afford to replace or refund the large number of affected batteries. Rad previously informed employees that it could be forced to shut down permanently in January if it cannot secure new funding, barely two weeks before this safety notice was issued by the CPSC.
For its part, Rad pushed back strongly on the CPSC’s characterization. A Rad Power Bikes Spokesperson explained in a statement to Electrek that the company “stands behind our batteries and our reputation as leaders in the ebike industry, and strongly disagrees with the CPSC’s characterization of certain Rad batteries as defective or unsafe.”
The company explained that its products meet or exceed stringent international safety standards, including UL-2271 and UL-2849, which are standards that the CPSC has proposed as a requirement but not yet implemented. Rad says its batteries have been repeatedly tested by reputable third-party labs, including during the CPSC investigation, and that those tests confirmed full compliance. Rad also claims the CPSC did not independently test the batteries using industry-accepted standards, and stresses that the incident rate cited by the agency represents a tiny fraction of a percent. While acknowledging that any fire report is serious, Rad maintains that lithium-ion batteries across all industries can be hazardous if damaged, improperly used, or exposed to significant water intrusion, and that these universal risks do not indicate a defect specific to Rad’s products.
The company says it entered the process hoping to collaborate with federal regulators to improve safety guidance and rider education, and that it offered multiple compromise solutions – including discounted upgrades to its newer Safe Shield batteries that were a legitimate leap forward in safety in the industry – but the CPSC rejected them. Rad argues that the agency instead demanded a full replacement program that would immediately bankrupt the company, leaving customers without support. It also warns that equating new technology with older products being “unsafe” undermines innovation, noting that the introduction of safer systems, such as anti-lock brakes, doesn’t retroactively deem previous generations faulty. Ultimately, Rad says clear, consistent national standards are needed so manufacturers can operate with confidence while continuing to advance battery safety.
Lithium-ion battery fires have become a growing concern across the US and internationally, with poorly made packs implicated in a rising number of deadly incidents.
While Rad Power Bikes states that no injuries or fatalities have been tied to these specific models, the federal warning marks one of the most serious e-bike battery advisories issued to date – and arrives at a moment when the once-dominant US e-bike brand is already fighting for survival.
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Environment
Rivian’s e-bike brand launches $250 smart helmet with breakthrough safety tech and lights
ALSO, the new micromobility brand spun out of Rivian, just announced official pricing for its long-awaited Alpha Wave helmet. The smart helmet, which introduces a brand-new safety tech called the Release Layer System (RLS), is now listed at $250, with “notify for pre-order” now open on ALSO’s site. Deliveries are expected to begin in spring 2026.
The $250 price point might sound steep, but ALSO is positioning the Alpha Wave as a top-tier lid that undercuts other premium smart helmets with similar tech – some of which push into the $400–500 range. That’s because the Alpha Wave is promising more than just upgraded comfort and design. The company claims the helmet will also deliver a significant leap in rotational impact protection.
The RLS system is made up of four internal panels that are engineered to release on impact, helping dissipate rotational energy – a major factor in many concussions. It’s being marketed as a next-gen alternative to MIPS and similar technologies, and could signal a broader shift in helmet safety standards if adopted widely.
Beyond protection, the Alpha Wave also packs a surprising amount of tech. Four wind-shielded speakers and two noise-canceling microphones are built in for taking calls, playing music, or following navigation prompts. And when paired with ALSO’s own TM-B electric bike, the helmet integrates with the bike’s onboard lighting system for synchronized rear lights and 200-lumen forward visibility.
The helmet is IPX6-rated for water resistance and charges via USB-C, making it easy to keep powered up alongside other modern gear.
Electrek’s Take
This helmet pushes the smart gear envelope. $250 isn’t nothing, but for integrated lighting, audio, and what might be a true leap forward in crash protection, it’s priced to shake things up in the high-end helmet space.
One area I’m not a huge fan of is the paired front and rear lights. Cruiser motorcycles have this same issue, with paired tail lights mounted close together sometimes being mistaken for a conventional four-wheeled vehicle farther away. I worry that the paired “headlights” and “taillights” of this helmet could be mistaken for a car farther down the road instead of the reality of a much closer cyclist. But hey, we’ll have to see.
The tech is pretty cool though, and if the RLS system holds up to its promise, we might be looking at the new bar for premium e-bike head protection.
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Georgia is putting more federal National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) dollars to work, with $24.4 million allocated to 26 new DC fast-charging stations across the state.
The Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) has selected private-sector partners to build and operate the new stations, which will be located along federally designated Alternative Fuel Corridors. Each site will have four DC fast chargers available 24/7 and, with a minimum of 150 kW per port, capable of delivering a full recharge in as little as 20 minutes, depending on the EV.
This is the second round of Georgia’s NEVI awards. GDOT mapped out 33 priority sites near highway exits and interchanges in mostly rural areas to close gaps left after the first round in 2024. The response was strong: the EV charging industry submitted 41 proposals to cover 26 of those locations.
Six winners were selected: Pilot Travel Centers, Silver Comet Energy, Universal EV, PowerUp America, Love’s Travel Stops, and EnviroSpark Energy Solutions.
Governor Brian Kemp (R-GA) said, “We appreciate Georgia DOT for fulfilling the state’s commitment to a robust, reliable fast-charging network that meets federal standards and serves communities across Georgia.”
Georgia was allocated about $135 million through the NEVI program, part of President Joe Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The federal program covers up to 80% of the project costs, with private partners covering the balance.
Round 2 follows a legal battle earlier this year, when a lawsuit filed by several states (not Georgia) compelled the Trump Administration to release funds owed from the NEVI Formula Program. A federal judge blocked the Trump administration’s illegal attempt to obstruct the NEVI program in June, clearing the way for planned NEVI EV charging projects to continue.
Read more: Court says US must free up billions in illegally-frozen electric car charger funds
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