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.”
Japanese equipment giant Kubota brought 22 new or updated machines to the 2025 bauma expo earlier this year, but tucked away in the corners was a new retrofit kit that can help existing customers decarbonize more quickly, and more affordably.
No matter how badly a fleet may want to electrify, harsh economic realities and the greater up-front costs typically associated with battery electric remain high hurdles to overcome, but new retrofit options from major manufacturers are popping up to help lower those obstacles.
The latest equipment maker to put its name on the retrofit list is Kubota, who says its kit can be installed by a trained dealer in a single day.
That’s right! By this time tomorrow, your diesel-powered Kubota KX019 or U27-4 excavator (shown) could be fitted with an 18 or 20 kWh li-ion battery pack and electric drive motors and ready to get to work in a low-noise or low-vibration work environment where emissions are a strict no-no. Think indoor precision demolition or historic archeological excavation.
Then, if necessary, it can go right back to diesel power.
From diesel to electric and back again
If that sounds familiar, that’s because we’ve talked about a similarly flexible power solution from ZQUIP. The battery packs and diesel engines are much larger in that application, but the basic sales pitch remains the same: electric when it benefits your operation, diesel it doesn’t.
Kubota says its modular retrofit kits is a response to the increasing global demand for sustainable alternatives by focusing on making machinery that’s flexible and repairable enough to be “reusable,” and offer construction fleet managers a longer operational lifespan, superior ROI (return on investment), and lower TCO (total cost of ownership) than the competition.
Kubota’s solution also notably reduces maintenance costs and operational overheads. With no engine and associated components, servicing time and expenses are considerably reduced, saving customers both time and money. Additionally, with electricity costing far less than fossil fuels, it offers a highly economical advantage.
International Rental News reports that other changes to the excavators include a more modern cab controls with a digital instrument cluster, a 60 mm wider undercarriage for more stability, and an independent travel circuit allows operators to use the boom, dipper, bucket, and auxiliary functions without an impact on tracking performance.
Kubota’s new kit, first shown at last year’s Hillhead exhibition in the UK, will officially be on sale this summer – any day now, in fact – though pricing has yet to be announced.
Electrek’s Take
If you’re wondering how it is that we’re still talking about bauma 2025 a full quarter after the show wrapped up, then I haven’t done a good enough job of explaining how positively massive the show was. Check out this Quick Charge episode (above) then let us know what you think of Kubota’s modular power kits in the comments.
SOURCE | IMAGES: Kubota, via International Rental News.
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Elon Musk isn’t happy about Trump passing the Big Beautiful Bill and killing off the $7,500 EV tax credit – but there’s a lot more bad news for Tesla baked into the BBB. We’ve got all that and more on today’s budget-busting episode of Quick Charge!
We also present ongoing coverage of the 2025 Electrek Formula Sun Grand Prix and dive into some two wheeled reports on the new electric Honda Ruckus e:Zoomer, the latest BMW electric two-wheeler, and more!
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Environment
FERC: Solar + wind made up 96% of new US power generating capacity in first third of 2025
Solar and wind accounted for almost 96% of new US electrical generating capacity added in the first third of 2025. In April, solar provided 87% of new capacity, making it the 20th consecutive month solar has taken the lead, according to data belatedly posted on July 1 by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and reviewed by the SUN DAY Campaign.
Solar’s new generating capacity in April 2025 and YTD
In its latest monthly “Energy Infrastructure Update” report (with data through April 30, 2025), FERC says 50 “units” of solar totaling 2,284 megawatts (MW) were placed into service in April, accounting for 86.7% of all new generating capacity added during the month.
In addition, the 9,451 MW of solar added during the first four months of 2025 was 77.7% of the new generation placed into service.
Solar has now been the largest source of new generating capacity added each month for 20 consecutive months, from September 2023 to April 2025.
Solar + wind were >95% of new capacity in 1st third of 2025
Between January and April 2025, new wind provided 2,183 MW of capacity additions, accounting for 18.0% of new additions in the first third.
In the same period, the combination of solar and wind was 95.7% of new capacity while natural gas (511 MW) provided just 4.2%; the remaining 0.1% came from oil (11 MW).
Solar + wind are >22% of US utility-scale generating capacity
The installed capacities of solar (11.0%) and wind (11.8%) are now each more than a tenth of the US total. Together, they make up almost one-fourth (22.8%) of the US’s total available installed utility-scale generating capacity.
Moreover, at least 25-30% of US solar capacity is in small-scale (e.g., rooftop) systems that are not reflected in FERC’s data. Including that additional solar capacity would bring the share provided by solar + wind to more than a quarter of the US total.
With the inclusion of hydropower (7.7%), biomass (1.1%), and geothermal (0.3%), renewables currently claim a 31.8% share of total US utility-scale generating capacity. If small-scale solar capacity is included, renewables are now about one-third of total US generating capacity.
Solar is on track to become No. 2 source of US generating capacity
FERC reports that net “high probability” additions of solar between May 2025 and April 2028 total 90,158 MW – an amount almost four times the forecast net “high probability” additions for wind (22,793 MW), the second-fastest growing resource. Notably, both three-year projections are higher than those provided just a month earlier.
FERC also foresees net growth for hydropower (596 MW) and geothermal (92 MW) but a decrease of 123 MW in biomass capacity.
Taken together, the net new “high probability” capacity additions by all renewable energy sources over the next three years – i.e., the bulk of the Trump administration’s remaining time in office – would total 113,516 MW.
FERC doesn’t include any nuclear capacity in its three-year forecast, while coal and oil are projected to contract by 24,373 MW and 1,915 MW, respectively. Natural gas capacity would expand by 5,730 MW.
Thus, adjusting for the different capacity factors of gas (59.7%), wind (34.3%), and utility-scale solar (23.4%), electricity generated by the projected new solar capacity to be added in the coming three years should be at least six times greater than that produced by the new natural gas capacity, while the electrical output by new wind capacity would be more than double that by gas.
If FERC’s current “high probability” additions materialize, by May 1, 2028, solar will account for one-sixth (16.6%) of US installed utility-scale generating capacity. Wind would provide an additional one-eighth (12.6%) of the total. That would make each greater than coal (12.2%) and substantially more than nuclear power or hydropower (7.3% and 7.2%, respectively).
In fact, assuming current growth rates continue, the installed capacity of utility-scale solar is likely to surpass that of either coal or wind within two years, placing solar in second place for installed generating capacity, behind only natural gas.
Renewables + small-scale solar may overtake natural gas within 3 years
The mix of all utility-scale (ie, >1 MW) renewables is now adding about two percentage points each year to its share of generating capacity. At that pace, by May 1, 2028, renewables would account for 37.7% of total available installed utility-scale generating capacity – rapidly approaching that of natural gas (40.1%). Solar and wind would constitute more than three-quarters of installed renewable energy capacity. If those trend lines continue, utility-scale renewable energy capacity should surpass that of natural gas in 2029 or sooner.
However, as noted, FERC’s data do not account for the capacity of small-scale solar systems. If that’s factored in, within three years, total US solar capacity could exceed 300 GW. In turn, the mix of all renewables would then be about 40% of total installed capacity while the share of natural gas would drop to about 38%.
Moreover, FERC reports that there may actually be as much as 224,426 MW of net new solar additions in the current three-year pipeline in addition to 69,530 MW of new wind, 9,072 MW of new hydropower, 202 MW of new geothermal, and 39 MW of new biomass. By contrast, net new natural gas capacity potentially in the three-year pipeline totals just 26,818 MW. Consequently, renewables’ share could be even greater by mid-spring 2028.
“The Trump Administration’s ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ … poses a clear threat to solar and wind in the years to come,” noted the SUN DAY Campaign’s executive director, Ken Bossong. “Nonetheless, FERC’s latest data and forecasts suggest cleaner and lower-cost renewable energy sources may still dominate and surpass nuclear power, coal, and natural gas.”
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