Rental car giant Hertz is teaming with Uber to bring 50,000 Teslas into its fleet by 2023, what the companies claim is the largest expansion of electric vehicles (EVs) on a mobility platform in North America.
Beginning next month, drivers can rent Teslas from Hertz through the program in four locations: Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego and Washington D.C. Nationwide expansion will then follow in the coming months.
Hertz said the move continues its strategy for modernizing its fleet of vehicles for future of travel and mobility through electrification, shared mobility and a digital-first platform. As part of this strategy, Hertz plans to install new EV charging infrastructure across Hertz’s global operations and will order 100,000 Teslas for use by the end of 2022.
If successful, the program could expand to 150,000 Teslas in the next three years. However, this could be tempered due to the ongoing chip shortage that is heavily impacting the automotive market’s ability to find enough semiconductors.
"Climate change is an urgent global challenge we must all tackle together, and now is the time to drive a green recovery from the pandemic," said Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi. "This combines the power of Tesla, Hertz and Uber to help accelerate the transition to zero-emissions mobility. We look forward to seeing more EVs on the road right away."
Drivers looking to rent a Tesla will have access to the Tesla Supercharger network as well as Uber’s EVgo discounts, which provides as much as $1 per trip up to $4,000 annually for drivers who transition from gas-powered cars to EVs.
EV interest growing
Due to the popularity of Tesla vehicles, environmental concern and the move regionally by governments to accelerate emissions mandates to curb climate change, the automotive industry as a whole is quickly embarking on a missive transmission to EVs.
By 2030, most, if not all, of automakers have pledged to move to selling EVs as their primary models with some such as General Motors, Volvo and Volkswagen pledging to phase out all gas- and diesel-powered engine vehicles by this time. Ford will only sell EVs in Europe and will invest $22 billion in EVs in the next five years making the vehicles its primary models.
Recently, Volvo said its plans to go public are to raise funding for a transition to electrification as its primary source of cars.
Hertz pointed to a recent survey of more than 6,000 internal combustion engine (ICE) drivers using the Uber app that showed about 47% are interested in a battery EV as their next car.
