Hertz customers in Canberra and Adelaide will soon be able to rent a Tesla Model 3 electric car, along with a range of hybrids.
Having announced earlier this week it will buy 100,000 cars from Tesla for its global fleet – 50,000 of which will be available for Uber ride-share drivers to lease in the USA – the company has announced it’s adding 350 examples of the Tesla Model 3 to its Australian fleet.
Hertz says the Tesla network of DC superchargers and AC destination chargers is one of the reasons it’s chosen the Model 3. The car is also compatible with brand-agnostic public fast chargers from the likes of Chargefox.
CarExpert has reached out to confirm whether renters will have to pay for their own charging, or whether it’ll be included with the rental.
The first Model 3s will be in Adelaide and Canberra, and will be promoted alongside the Toyota Yaris Cross, Corolla, Camry, RAV4, and Kluger hybrids (along with the Subaru Forester hybrid) as part of the Hertz Green Collection.
Hertz says 20 per cent of its fleet in Australia is now hybrid or electric, and the percentage will continue to grow.
“We are proud to offer our environmentally conscious customers, or those just wanting to try a unique driving experience, a first-class drive with the highest level of technology, comfort, and safety,” Eoin MacNeill, Hertz vice president of Asia Pacific, said of the Model 3.
Hertz isn’t the only rental company pushing into the electric car space in Australia.
Europcar earlier in 2021 announced it will add 40 examples of the MG ZS EV to its fleet in Melbourne, as it pushes to make a third of its global fleet electric either electric or plug-in hybrid by the end of 2023.
The scale of Hertz’s rollout of electric cars in Australia pales in comparison to its North American and European push.
Share prices climbed 13 per cent on the back of news Hertz was ordering 100,000 Tesla vehicles by the end of 2022.
It’s part of the rental firm’s plan to offer the largest EV rental fleet in North America and one of the largest in the world.
It’ll make Teslas available in major North American markets plus parts of Europe, while also installing new EV charging infrastructure across its global operations.
Bloomberg reports sources familiar with the deal have put the total revenue for Tesla at US$4.2 billion (A$5.6 billion), suggesting Hertz is paying close to list price for the vehicles.
It’s an ambitious play for Hertz, particularly as it only exited Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings on July 1, 2021. It entered these in May 2020 after having been steamrolled by COVID-19.
The deal accounts for around one-tenth of Tesla’s total available production volume at present.
Hertz was the first US rental company to add EVs to its fleet. It’s currently headed by interim CEO Mark Fields, formerly the CEO of Ford.
The deal reportedly still allows Hertz to buy EVs from other companies.
At this stage it’s not clear when Hertz plans to expand its fleet of electric cars beyond Adelaide and Canberra.
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