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.”
Taiwanese smart-scooter pioneer Gogoro is taking a step into more accessible territory with its newest model, the Ezzy. The company hopes to leverage its massive lead in battery-swapping technology while also bringing its smart scooters to a broader audience by lowering its price point.
Designed as a no-frills, budget-friendly ride that doesn’t skimp on modern conveniences, Ezzy is priced around NT$59,980 (around US $2,000). Once you add in the government subsidies from its native Taiwan, that price drops below NT$30,000 (around US $1,000). For Gogoro, this is the smartscooter distilled to its essential core: practical, connected, and ready for daily life.
The Ezzy looks like it is trying to build on Gogoro’s success with its 2024 Jego launch, the company’s previous forray into lower cost electric scooters. The Jego was a massive success and wound up resulting in around 40% of the company’s sales. Now the Ezzy looks to keep the good vibes rolling in a sleek, compact, and intuitive package.
The scooter features a rounded, minimalist body with a durable front panel and straightforward controls. Practicality is the guiding principle: a 68 cm (27 inch) long seat, spacious footwell, and a 28 liter (7.4 gallon) under-seat storage compartment, which the company says is large enough for two helmets – if they’re a 3/4 and a half helmet. Put it all together, and the features sound like they should make the Ezzy ideal for urban errands or weekend jaunts. Add in a built-in cupholder and flip-out footrests, and you’ve got a scooter designed to seamlessly slot into everyday routines with one or two riders aboard.
The design is cute, but it’s under the panels where Gogoro usually tries to set itself apart. Ezzy is powered by a new hub motor capable of speeds up to 68 km/h (42 mph), high enough for city traffic while keeping maintenance low. The last time I was scootering around in Taipei, those speeds felt like plenty on the congested streets.
And while Gogoro’s scooters have long been impressive, the most important part of the company’s offerings isn’t even its rides, it’s how they’re powered. Ezzy integrates directly into Gogoro’s famed battery-swapping network, which includes thousands of swap stations around Taiwan.
Riders can skip charging downtime by swapping depleted packs at GoStation kiosks, which regularly see hundreds of thousands of battery swaps every day.
Electrek’s Take
In terms of performance, Ezzy strikes a balance. It’s not built for speed demons, but it likely won’t bog down in traffic either. It’s not overflowing with gadgets, yet includes thoughtful features that matter – cup holder, flip-out footrests, and room for two helmets. At around US $2,000 retail before subsidies, it’s clearly aimed at broadening access to smart two-wheeling in dense cities. And since the combustion engine scooters still dominate cities in most countries, making electric alternatives more affordable is a key part of displacing those heavy polluters.
This feels less like a normal launch and more like a strategic pivot for Gogoro. While the company’s premium Smartscooters – like the sports car-inspired Pulse or high-performance SuperSport – are impressive, they’re also spendy and niche. Ezzy, by contrast, looks like what Gogoro might want every city overpopulated by cars to embrace: a stylish, comfortable, and economical electric scooter that’s accessible to the masses.
It’s still early days and Gogoro hasn’t confirmed availability beyond Taiwan, but enthusiasm for affordable, swappable-battery electric scooters is growing. If Ezzy finds even moderate success in its initial market, it could pave the way for Gogoro to expand its smart ecosystem deeper into urban centers worldwide.
In short, Ezzy may not be a headline-grabbing performance machine, but that’s exactly the point. Sometimes progress happens not with fireworks, but with smart, thoughtful moves that make electric mobility more attainable for everyone. And that’s an evolution worth riding along with.
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The e-bike industry in the West has long been a tale of two territories. North Americans enjoy higher speeds and power limits for their electric bicycles while Europeans are held to much stricter (i.e. slower and lower) speed and power limits. However, things might change based on current discussions on rewriting European e-bike regulations.
New power levels are not totally without precedent, either. The UK briefly considered doubling its own e-bike power limit from 250 watts (approximately 1/3 horsepower) to 500 watts, though the move was ultimately abandoned.
But this time, the call for more power is coming from within the house – i.e., Germany. The Germans are the undisputed leaders and trend setters in the European e-bike market, accounting for around two million sales of e-bikes per year. Home to leading e-bike drive makers like Bosch, the country has yet another advantage when it comes to making – or regulating – waves in the industry.
And while there aren’t any pending law changes, the largest German trade organization ZIV (Zweirad-Industrie-Verband), which is highly influential in achieving such changes, is now discussing what it believes could be pertinent updates to current EU electric bike regulations.
Some of the new regulations involve creating rules maxing out power at levels such as 400% or 600% of the human pedaling input. But a key component of the proposed plan includes changing the present day power limit of e-bikes from 250W of continuous power at the motor to 750W of peak power at the drive wheel.
The difference includes some nuance, since continuous power is often considered more of a nominal figure, meaning nearly every e-bike motor in Europe wears a “250W” or less sticker despite often outputting a higher level of peak power. Even Bosch, which has to walk the tight and narrow as a leader in the European e-bike drive market, shared that its newest models of motors are capable of peak power ratings in the 600W level. That’s still far from the commonly 1,000W to 1,300W peak power seen in US e-bike motors, but offers a nice boost over an actual 250W motor.
Other new regulations up for discussion include proposals to limit fully-loaded cargo e-bike weights to either 250 kg (550 lb) for two-wheelers or 300 kg (660 lb) for e-bikes with more than two wheels. As road.cc explained, ZIV also noted that, “separate framework conditions and parameters must be defined for cargo bikes weighing more than 300 kg (see EN 17860-4:2025) as they differ significantly from EPACs and bicycles in their dynamics, design and operation.” Such heavy-duty cargo e-bikes, which often more closely resemble small delivery vans than large cargo bikes, are becoming more common in the industry and have raised concerns about cargo e-bike bloat, especially in dedicated cycling paths.
It’s too early to say whether European e-bike regulations will actually change, but the fact that key industry voices with the power to influence policy are openly advocating for it suggests that new rules for the European market are a real possibility.
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China just laid out a plan to roll out over 100,000 ultra-fast EV charging stations by 2027 – and they’ll all be open to the public.
The National Development and Reform Commission’s (NDRC) joint notice, issued on Monday, asks local authorities to put together construction plans for highway service areas and prioritize the ones that see 40% or more usage during holiday travel rushes.
The NDRC notes that China’s ultra-fast EV charging infrastructure needs upgrading as more 800V EVs hit the road. Those high-voltage platforms can handle super-fast charging in as little as 10 to 30 minutes, but only if the charging hardware is up to speed.
China had 31.4 million EVs on the road at the end of 2024 – nearly 9% of the country’s total vehicle fleet. But charging access is still catching up. As of May 2025, there were 14.4 million charging points, or roughly 1 for every 2.2 EVs.
To keep the grid running smoothly, China wants new chargers to be smart, with dynamic pricing to incentivize off-peak charging and solar and storage to power the charging stations.
To make the business side work, the government is pushing for 10-year leases for charging station operators, and it’s backing the buildout with local government bonds.
The NDRC emphasized that the DC fast chargers built will be open to the public. This is a big deal because a lot of fast chargers in China aren’t. For example, BYD’s new megawatt chargers aren’t open to third-party vehicles.
As of September 2024, China had expanded its charging infrastructure to 11.4 million EV chargers, but only 3.3 million were public.
Read more: California now has nearly 50% more EV chargers than gas nozzles
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