By Jo Nova
Hertz was aiming to make 25% of its fleet electric by 2024, but is finding 11% is too much. Given there are whole nations pushing for 100% EV by 2035 there seems to be a message here…
Let’s thank Hertz for doing that experiment for us. It turns out EV’s didn’t work well in the high mileage Uber-type system because the drivers “drove them into the ground” and repair costs were much higher than expected. So Hertz moved some EV’s to the leisure hire department, but then the revenue per day in the leisure sector fell. Presumably people didn’t want to hire them.
It’s not that this is Bad News week for EVs — it’s quarterly reporting week, so companies have to tell investors things they’d rather not.
Great nations don’t force citizens to buy heavier cars with shorter ranges and bigger repair bills in order to stop bad weather one hundred years from now.
Hertz is slowing down the roll out of EVs onto its fleets as the CEO cites higher than expected repair costs and price cuts.
The rental car company reported lower than expected margins in the third quarter of this year, citing EV repairs as one of the challenges.
“Collision and damage repairs on an EV can often run about twice that associated with a comparable combustion engine vehicle,” said Mr Scherr.
It all started out so well:
Hertz is scaling back its EV ambitions because its Teslas keep getting damaged
Andrew J Hawkins, The Verge
Rental car company Hertz once envisioned itself as the ultimate EV broker, doling out battery-powered vehicles to business travelers, ridehail drivers, and tech newbies in an ambitious plan to grease the wheels for the EV revolution. The company inked agreements with Tesla and Polestar to buy nearly 200,000 EVs. Tesla’s valuation topped $1 trillion on the news.
Part of the problem is linked to Hertz’s plans to rent EVs to ridehail drivers. Of the 100,000 Tesla acquired by Hertz, half were to be allocated to Uber drivers as part of a deal with the ridehail company. And drivers said they loved the Teslas! But Uber drivers also tend to drive their vehicles into the ground. This higher rate of utilization can lead to a lot of damage — certainly more than Hertz was anticipating.
Musk frequently says that electric cars require less maintenance than counterparts with internal combustion engines (including plug-in hybrid electrics). …
But electric vehicle owners can face unique maintenance needs, as well. Nikhil Naikal, CEO of Kinetic, a startup that is not affiliated with Hertz or Tesla but provides repairs for electric and autonomous vehicles, told CNBC on Thursday:
“The reality of electric vehicles is that they can be 1,000 pounds heavier or more than gas vehicles, and they move faster, with higher torque. Since they’re extremely zippy and heavier, it’s just physics — the ability to overcome inertia so quickly is going to effect their suspension systems, the brakes and steering columns. It’s counter-intuitive, but even with fewer moving parts they are susceptible to requiring more maintenance. They especially require tire-swapping, because the tires wear out more quickly from that high torque and weight.
h/t Brenda, Stanley and Yarpos.
Photo: NZ archives Christchurch
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My brother used to think that Hertz Van Rental was a Dutch painter.
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Silly! He was a Dutch author, not an artist.
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nice work
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He had to work hard to afford Degas to make the Van Gogh.
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More Monet needed?
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That is the impression
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Upmarket or Budget?
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High tyre wear! Yes that makes sense.
But Brakes? I thought that regenerative braking was the big idea.
Is there anything that EVs do better than ICEs?
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Can I say that the wheels have fallen off the EV revolution?
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You could say it’s when the rubber hits the road but for Hertz
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They provide much more exciting fires. Usually explosive and never controlled until flooded in water for a few days.
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EVs provide better levels of disappointment than ICE vehicles.
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Hello Peter,
regenerative braking is something I have been thinking about.
Loading a generator, which is basically what is happening, has the braking effect proportional to the load applied.
As batteries tend to have low internal resistance, to get a high braking effect means putting a lot of current into the battery, again generalising, this is detrimental to battery life. I’m sure all the power electronics control this but does that mean that this ‘benefit’ of electric cars has been over stated?
I understand motors and generators but evs are not something I have any technical experience of.
Incidentally if you drive an ice car the old fashioned way and use gears to slow down rather than brakes, this saves fuel as you are using some of the kinetic energy of the car’s motion.
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In Germany the TUV testing group found that brakes failed to pass their regular test because they were not strong enough due to lack of use. The regenerative braking had reduced their use so much.
The only plus point of a battery car is the instant torque but it is totally swamped by the minus points. Geoff Buys Cars has just done a John O’Groats to Lands End challenge with a used diesel BMW vs a Porsche Taycan. Watch the 2 episodes on Youtube and enjoy the conclusion.
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I use my brakes more on my hybrid than I ever did before because regen does not retard as much as compression braking. In an EV it would depend on driving style.
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I will be hiring a car in Austria next month.
Firstly I would have no idea where to charge it. Secondly it seems extremely dangerous to send someone out into a cold country and up mountain passes in a car where if things get tight, I would have to cut back on heating, the lights, windscreen wipers and all the other essentials in order to conserve power in some cold out of the way place.
I would certainly refuse a hire EV at the airport if it were offered to me
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You’re a very bright bloke Tonyb and I hope you have a great time in Austria.
You’ve certainly made the correct decision about transport at the start of your visit.
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I initially parsed that as Australia.
It would have been nice to arrange an international meet-up of Jonovians, Tony.
If you come to Australia, you can rent an EV but not recommended for Outback travel.
Typical outback road signs:
https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Remote_areas_ahead.jpg
Sign that says no mobile phone signal next 630km:
https://www.news.com.au/travel/disturbs-me-remote-aussie-road-sign-shocks-internet/news-story/d2a5eb715ba4b6bf316f75e48cca4cd5?amp
No fuel next 366km:
https://www.alamy.com/no-fuel-warning-sign-on-a-remote-outback-dirt-road-near-borroloola-northern-territory-nt-australia-image382116514.html
Sign says last shop for 1000km (slightly exaggerated perhaps):
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11441811/amp/The-spooky-road-sign-deep-outback-shocked-world.html
Etc..
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That last sign certainly is an exaggeration, as there were always stops/shops about every 200-300 kms on the Eyre Highway. But generally not open after hours, so always needed to carry fuel. I used to take a 44 gallon drum on the ute for the long overnight trips. Also the original Eyre Highway was mostly white limestone, not red soil, so the travel photo is certainly not the Eyre Highway.
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In the early 1950’s it was a dirt road, with frequent diversions around wombat holes, dead kangaroos, rabbits etc. Wedgetails feasted on carcasses. Gurney stickers were respected in those days.
When the road was finally all sealed, an initial flood of vehicles comprised of mothers and children fleeing to the opposite side of Australia.
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They used to mark the big potholes with either 12-gallon drums or star pickets. Driving at night on the worst sections could be quite hairy, with black star pickets suddenly looming up out of the darkness.
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No mobile coverage for 630km in the outback but Albo’s got $600m to waste on NRL in PNG.
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Extraordinary. I couldn’t believe it was true, but it is.
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Back in the NH spring, my number one son flew into a hub of wokeism: Austin, TX for a weekend. (He lives in California, so he is heavily influenced by the woke crowd.) The rental car company was swamped and had to upgrade his ride: Tesla or a convertible V8 Mustang. Smart kid chose the Mustang. It was a proud dad moment for me. He was making good choices.
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EVs are like TOXIC W & S because they stuff up the car game the same way that W & S stuff up the Grid and quickly send the cost of energy to another level.
EVs are also UNRELIABLE and dangerous and the value for money is a sick joke.
I agree with Matt Ridley and if these TOXIC EV disasters ever come close to gaining acceptance I’ll purchase a very good ICE car to service my future needs.
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You might have to buy a much older model Neville. I can still get, or make, anything I need to keep my 1980 model Triumph on the road. Not so with my 2014 car. The manufacturer stopped supplying a number of the electronic tricky bits a while back. Used parts are getting much harder to find too. I had to source a bit of electronics for a Japanese car from the USA recently. Cost a kings ransom.
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Reality is relentless and the EV tide does seem to be turning and some parts of the msm even report on it gently. Still there are plenty of look squirrel! EV stories to report on. Yesterday I was looking at a story on how the ever imminent Cybertruck stainless steel panels are bullet proof ( to pistol calibers at least)
There are many kinds of pistol ammunition so this doesnt say much, but did get them another round of publicity. Maybe they are looking for police sales in Chicago, Baltimore etc.
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Possibly .22 calibre, 4 tonnes of junk that looks like a 12yo school kid penned it.
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You may be surprised at the Cybertruck’s aesthetic acceptability. When it was announced we had two sister’s in law staying with us. My wife and her sisters all thought it looked cute and looked like a Mars rover.
I predict lots of chicks will buy it.
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Hertz et al (think leasing) also had a lucrative second-hand market but that too has run out of, I was going to say steam but that would be incongruous, so I’ll say power. If it weren’t for the financial benefits, in the form of tax concessions, commercial EVs would not have seen daylight! That goes for solar and wind power too! But I not that Dick Chalmers Special Agent will press on with an enforced switch to compel EV take-up!
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I work for well known rental car company at a mid sized airport in the U.S. There was one electric car there all Summer but no one wanted it. Then again we are in the Northern Rockies and we don’t have many charging stations. Hybrids do fine by contrast.
“Lucrative Second Hand Market” – My advice is don’t buy a used car from any Rental Company. We do NOT take care of these cars. I was taking cars in 5,000 and 10,000 miles past their recommended oil change date. So 15,000 miles with no oil change? That is not good for any engine at all. We run the tires down sometimes so there is not much tread left. The whole game is to get the car cleaned after its being rented, gas it up and rent it again in 24 hours or less. Everything else is secondary.
Recommendation: Get a car with the fewest miles and check the tires carefully. Must have a tread depth of at least 7 mm or 8/32″ – you lose 10 feet stopping distance every 1mm reduction after that.
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also – the capital city airport i do work at, have instructed the onsite rental fleets – No more fast chargers to be installed, the local grid cant support anymore.
Dont let that give you the impression they have lots of them….the brands i work directly for, they have less than 6 each.
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“The reality of electric vehicles is that they can be 1,000 pounds heavier or more than gas vehicles, and they move faster, with higher torque. Since they’re extremely zippy and heavier, it’s just physics — the ability to overcome inertia so quickly is going to affect their suspension systems, the brakes and steering columns. It’s counter-intuitive, but even with fewer moving parts they are susceptible to requiring more maintenance. They especially require tire-swapping, because the tires wear out more quickly from that high torque and weight.”
It seems EVs are their own worst enemy, drivers are more likely to clip kerbs and islands, damaging and bending stuff.
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Speed bumps for the urban warrior. Always thought a Humvee would be great for city driving.
Speed bumps must do quite the tune on EVs
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Becuase tires wear out faster more tire dust (Microplastic) is produced than a similar ICE vehicle.
EVs are not zero emission vehicles – they are an environmental disaster from manufacturing, use and then disposal of the old batteries.
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“The Arc Of The Renewables Universe Is Long, But It Bends Toward Bankruptcy”
https://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2023/11/01/the-arc-of-the-renewables-universe-is-long-but-it-bends-toward-bankruptcy/
I guess that could be hinted at with EVs too?
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EVs can burn up UNDER WATER!!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUVZR7OIelk&t=1s
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Interesting.
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Why would you ever consider putting a boat into the water using a EV or hybrid?
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Mr. 4: The likely explanation is that they were simply dazzled by all the wonders of the EV, and for some strange reason they couldn’t find any negative information, like “don’t let your EV get wet”. Hard not to notice that any negative EV article at the several sites I visit draws these troll enthusiasts who try to deflect and obfuscate.
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good video I subscribed to that channel
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The Australian Goverment gives the wealthy and woke a $3000 subbsidy to buy Teslas.
Time this subsidy was removed to lower petrol excise tax.
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Once the public servants and their masters in Canberra figure out the politics of Musk the subsidy will go.
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The thinking community is well aware of the fact that EVs are, -to use a favourite buzzword of the Left-, unsustainable.
So what is the real agenda?
The Elites of the Left want to ban cars altogether along with all other personal freedoms and right to own property (for non-Elites).
They just don’t want to say it yet. So they instruct their slave army of useful idiots to propagandise that all will be fine and dandy with EVs and the more wealthy and woke ones even buy them as virtue signaling devices.
The true agenda is to have you live as serfs/slaves in Medieval-style villages called “15 Minute Cities” where “you will own nothing and be happy” and will work as a serf/slave in a menial capacity as a subsistence farmer raising insects and grain for your personal consumption.
They don’t deny this.
It’s just conservatives and fellow rational thinkers aren’t listening.
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/02/how-insects-positively-impact-climate-change/
https://web.archive.org/web/20161125135500/https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/11/shopping-i-can-t-really-remember-what-that-is
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/03/15-minute-city-stickiness/
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/12/goodbye-car-ownership-hello-clean-air-this-is-the-future-of-transport/
Conservatives and fellow rational thinkers just want to be left alone to peacefully persue their personal life goals.
Leftists on the other hand (the Elites aided by their slave army of useful idiots) are absolutely ruthless in the pursuit of their collective objectives and are prepared to, and do use any and all means to achieve them, including lies, deceipt, violence and murder.
It’s about time conservatives woke up.
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We all assumed “Lease to buy” was a good thing because we could simply upgrade to the latest technology almost on a whim but as the true plan and effect of leasing everything, including household requirements, simply becomes a line of revolving credit that never gets repaid.
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Mortgages are heading towards the same concept – revolving credit that never gets paid – permanent rental basically. I think Canada has introduced 50 year loans.
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I notice in the “uber” link that the cars get a dollar per trip extra just for driving a tesla. If you remove all subsidies and incentives EV’s are expensive virtue signaling toys .
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I have a 10 year old Toyota Yaris and the current market value is the same as what I paid 10 years ago.
No EV will ever be able to match such retained value.
Who in their right mind would buy an EV afterthe battery warranty has expried after 8 years???
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Hertz must have read:-) https://principia-scientific.com/new-study-exposing-the-true-cost-of-electric-vehicles/
Also pertinent https://principia-scientific.com/wind-industry-built-on-lies-runs-on-subsidies/
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To be read out loud at Parliament House:
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Not a good day for the EV world!
https://principia-scientific.com/inflated-ev-assessments-deflate-production-incentives/
The old adage must be ringing in their ears “it never rains but it pours”
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It is interesting that the person that made EVs standard fare, calls ‘woke’ a “mind virus” bringing about “the end of civilization”.
Calling them “extinctionists” a “death cult”.
On Joe Rogan …
https://www.bitchute.com/video/R2Vr1kDXsNTQ/
(Alex John’s face appears for the first second, don’t panic … the short clip of Elon follows.)
The Woke and the Climate Alarmists are one, and anti-human.
Finally someone people will listen to, is saying what those of us here have understood for a long while.
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And see Gad Saad’s recent comment, under 2 mins.
https://youtu.be/aYolXVwRWZ4
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The Romans may have beat us to this inglorious end! Not to mention the Maya and Aztec civilizations!
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It is not clear that Western Civilisation can survive the present crisis.
The Left have never been more powerful and are now showing their true colours, mostly blood red!
The one chance the West had to save its civilisation was Donald Trump and look how they are relentlessly attacking him. They may even choose to “JFK” him.
Trump is the one man standing between freedom and global dictatorship. If he is not allowed to have an honest election to get elected US President, I’m afraid that’s the end.
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As he says, ‘They aren’t after me, they’re after you, I’m just in the way’.
10
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That was a response to Honk and a copy of what was written at the bottom of the video he posted.
It was not intended as a fresh comment thread.
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The Hydraulic Press Channel has huge fun squashing things in their hydraulic presses.
It was recently the turn of lithium ion batteries….
https://youtu.be/t1j9TUV5coc
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Renting out cars to Uber drivers is not a smart business model, they do far more driving than the average driver.
Comparing EVs with ICEs:
– Tyre wear is higher because EVs are heavier
– Brake wear is much lower because the generator does the braking (if you drive an EV as it’s meant to be driven),
– Maintenance is much lower because there motors are much less than engines and there are less moving parts,
– Car damage repairs are higher because the supply chains aren’t there yet,
– Running costs are much lower, electricity is cheaper than petrol.
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“Car damage repairs are higher because the supply chains aren’t there yet”
Rot – repair cost are higher because they have to right-off so many EVs batteries involved in minor crashes.
And that’s simply because the repairers cannot know if the battery has been damaged in the crash.
So battery replacements force either total right-off or inflates the statistical total “repair” costs.
Petrol tanks are cheap to replace if in doubt.
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Did you read and comprehend the CNBC article referenced? This article pointed out that EV maintenance costs are NOT less than ICEs.
And the car damage repairs are NOT related to absence of a supply chain – it’s because the slightest prang creates doubts as to whether the battery bank has been impacted, so many insurance companies just write the EV off even with minor damage. That’s why their insurance costs have doubled.
As far ans electricity costs are concerned, what’s not being included is the initial high cost of installing an EV charge point in a residence, plus the fact that so far, EV charge points are being subsidised by the taxpayer. I don’t recall ever subsidising a petrol station. If you correctly added those extra costs to the electricity cost, I’m sure that the electricity would come out dearer than petrol.
It’s only subsidies and consumer ignorance that’s keeping EVs afloat ATM.
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Writing off batteries after a prang is overkill and that will change once testing protocols are in place. EV charging stations don’t need to be subsidised, the market will provide. Most charging will always occur at home. EV’s don’t need to be subsidised from here on in, almost every new vehicle is a hybrid or full EV these days. There are still many subsidies in play in the provision of fossil fuels, users do not pay the full environmental cost.
People like me will only hire EVs, so rental car companies will miss out if they don’t offer them.
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“testing protocols are in place” – did you watch DM’s Hydraulic Press Channel link above?
Wonder why leftists always run to meme words like “protocols” to solve all their problems. Vaccine delivery comes to mind.
Why not just consider some basic engineering?
ICE cars have their energy stored as a fluid that can be relatively easily drained after crash (with 100 years of development refinement).
EVs have their energy stored in a compact mass that is very difficult to drain (with almost no development refinement).
I seem to remember leftists claiming that “protocols not being followed” was the major fail and deaths in “pink bats” program.
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I thought that it would be obvious why, after even a minor accident, then the integrity of the battery pack would be suspect. It forms the main sub-frame of the entire vehicle, and has thousands of small batteries, any one of which, if damaged, can cause a major fire.
If EV charging stations don’t need subsidies, then why has Tritium gone broke, and why are they asking for a $90 million subsidy? They obviously don’t have a business case without subsidies.
WRT so-called fossil fuel subsidies, I believe that the tax added to the fuel cost goes to the govt, not the petrol suppliers. I don’t know of any subsidy for petrol stations.
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They were less than 20% of sales in Australia in August. https://www.drive.com.au/news/vfacts-august-2023-new-car-sales/
.
What statistics do you have to support your claim?
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Mr. Strop: As you may know, this commenter is some evidence that a magnetic field around an EV renders you incapable of perceiving a lie, yet motivates you to repeat the lie on comment boards. As you know, Simon’s statement wasn’t true, he has no stats to support it unless he posts another lying link. But I’ll watch for his reply anyway, I like to take EV liars down a peg. They do make it easy.
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“Running costs are much lower, electricity is cheaper than petrol.”
Depends on where you charge it,
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In real life that isn’t true, even in Britain where diesel costs A$3/l a John O’Groats to Lands End challenge had the diesel costing ₤122 V ₤259 for the EV. And the trip was a nightmare in the EV wasting over 6 hours and not doing the last little bit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqVFTEFvSBA
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Lots of negative EV comments in today’s The Australian, in relation to an EV article and a follow-on Tritium charger article. Think many commentators are visiting this site.
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This idea that electric motors are far less maintenance, is like a problem that doesn’t need solving. It’s rarely mentioned just how reliable the ICE is. Diesels in particular are simply extraordinary.
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Jo’s article quoted Hertz whose experience is the opposite.
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Sorry Philip, that didn’t sound as if I was agreeing with you.
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I would have thought that this has huge implications for those pushing the “You will own nothing and be happy” agenda. But even bigger implications for those who are the ones who are supposed to be happy owning nothing.
If the rental business cant make a quid – there wont be much to rent.
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Not Hertz but you get the idea – a US quote
“Repair Estimate
Egtirnate# AP314119
Volt
CUSTOMER QUOTE
******** Chevrolet
cxd
08/23/2022
Odometer: 70.489
AM
Estimate O ate:
VIN: ********
(H)
(B)
operation: NOIIO Battery, HYBRID BATTERY REPLACEMENT
GM24Jß3é94
Ct.” 2375390
-BAT
Par:
ßlan
SHOP SUPPLIES
-FL BATTERY FEE
CUSTOMER copy
26.85399
PARTS S:
MISC S:
TAX
SUBTOTAL S:
26.85399
4000
1
26,887.97
41.50
1.71268
29,842.15
Page I “
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Wouldn’t you rather rent this anyway?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rwO8sTI8nM
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Because of freezing and thawing temperature cycles our roads have a lot of pot holes. Carrying around an extra 500 kg will make a noticable diference to both road and car over time.
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Look, if you want to buy or rent an EV, knock yourself out. Just don’t mandate or subsidise them with my taxpayers money. Go buy your expensive Tesla, but don’t tell me you’re saving the world from climate change by doing so. In fact I like Teslas because of Elon Musk. Now, there’s a bloke that should be leader of the free world. Just been listening to his Joe Rogan podcast and Elon is an amazing person. Doesn’t hold back on a whole heap of subjects. Even calls George Soros anti-human. At least with Tesla years ago they installed their supercharger network with very little assistance. If Hertz would like to rent Tesla’s new cybertruck in Australia, then put me down as a renter. Just looks awesome to drive and not only that – they’re bulletproof, literally. You never know when that stray .22 round is going to hit your car as you drive around Australia.
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Imagine driving an expensive experiment in order to stop bad weather one hundred years from now then conks out on you a hundred miles from your destination. No help. No mates. No charging points for miles.
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But can’t you just nip off and bring back a big can of electricity?
Ohhh … ahhhh …
Auto
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The guy with a generator in the back of the ute will charge both milage AND time and he will be at least an hour getting you enough power to move far.
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Seems to me there is an old expression something like: “you don’t know the truth of a thing until the
rubber meets the road”. Yup.
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Cap Allon’s website today has run extracts of the above article.
Also has a short video well worth watching-
https://twitter.com/i/status/1597571593722789893
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Not Xmas yet but the good news keeps coming …
https://dailysceptic.org/2023/11/02/wind-energy-crisis-firm-ditches-flagship-projects-as-economic-viability-collapses/
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[…] Great nations don’t force citizens to buy heavier cars with shorter ranges and bigger repair bills in order to stop bad weather one hundred years from now. – Jo Nova * […]
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[…] American Thinker is fortunate enough to have a number of friends around the world, and one of those friends, an Aussie, sent me a story with this lede from the JoNova blog: […]
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