Hertz, one of the giants of the U.S. car rental industry, is selling off 20,000 of its electric cars, backing away from its previous plans to be 25% electric by the end of this year.
The company will sell off the cars over the next year, and has said it will take a $245 million loss on the project, and will be buying more gas and hybrid cars to meet customer demand. Many customers have been reluctant to rent EVs, in part out of concern over availability of charging in areas they are not familiar with.
Three years ago, Hertz made a big splash with its announcement that it would buy 100,000 Teslas and also ordered 65,000 vehicles from Polestar, Volvo’s electric subsidiary. However, in addition to the light demand, Hertz has found that the EVs have been less profitable than other vehicles and have higher repair and maintenance costs.
