An official press release from Hertz on Monday, October 25, 2021 contained the announcement that the rental car company seeks to have the largest fleet of electric vehicles in North America — which will include an initial order of 100,000 vehicles manufactured by Tesla — by the end of 2022; and it will also boast a new infrastructure for charging those electric vehicles across the global operations of the rental car company…
Wait — No Electric Car Fleet Deal Between Hertz and Tesla After All?
…but Elon Musk — who is the chief executive officer of Tesla, Incorporated — sent the following message via Twitter yesterday, Monday, November 1, 2021 pertaining to the recent significant increase in value of its stock price:
You’re welcome!
If any of this is based on Hertz, I’d like to emphasize that no contract has been signed yet.
Tesla has far more demand than production, therefore we will only sell cars to Hertz for the same margin as to consumers.
Hertz deal has zero effect on our economics.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 2, 2021
“If any of this is based on Hertz, I’d like to emphasize that no contract has been signed yet. Tesla has far more demand than production, therefore we will only sell cars to Hertz for the same margin as to consumers. Hertz deal has zero effect on our economics.”
This means that…
To be clear, cars sold to Hertz have no discount. Same price as to consumers.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 26, 2021
“To be clear, cars sold to Hertz have no discount. Same price as to consumers.”
Hertz is even offering a promotion: when you book a reservation for a Tesla Model 3 and charge at Tesla network chargers between Monday, November 1, 2021 and Monday, January 31, 2022, charging of the vehicle is included — but no word has official been given as to how much charging the vehicle will cost starting on Tuesday, February 1, 2022.
Also, idle fees at Tesla network chargers — as well as charging and idle fees at third-party chargers — are excluded from this offer.
With the aforementioned order, electric vehicles will comprise of greater than 20 percent of the global fleet of Hertz; and is expected to be supported by a combination of Level 2 and DC fast charging stations in approximately 65 markets by the end of 2022 and greater than 100 markets by the end of 2023. However, these ambitions could be adversely affected by factors which are outside of the control of Hertz — such as the shortages of magnesium, rubber, and semiconductor chips — as well as other possible constraints.
Demand for electric vehicles has skyrocketed, and Hertz is positioning itself to meet that demand by increasing its supply of rental cars while simultaneously accelerating its commitment to lead the future of mobility and travel — and beginning in early November and expanding through the end of the year, customers will be able to rent a Tesla Model 3 electric car at both airport locations and neighborhood locations of Hertz in major markets in the United States and in select cities in Europe.
Final Boarding Call
When everything is read carefully, an actual agreement or deal was not even mentioned between Tesla and Hertz. The rental car company simply announced that an initial order of 100,000 Tesla cars is included in its plan to have a significant fleet of electric cars.
Perhaps Hertz is either paying the full price of approximately $44,000.00 for every Tesla Model 3 — which adds up to $4.4 billion in total for that initial order — while simultaneously using marketing tactics to somehow handsomely benefit from the order…
…or perhaps Elon Musk is not being completely forthcoming about the relationship between Tesla and Hertz…
Photograph ©2020 by Brian Cohen.
