As part of its ongoing commitment to lead in electrification, shared mobility, and a digital-first experience for its customers, The Hertz Corporation announced a new global partnership with Polestar — which includes the purchase of as many as 65,000 electric vehicles to its fleet of rental vehicles over the course of five years — earlier today, Monday, April 4, 2022.
Will You Drive a Polestar in the Near Future? Hertz Hopes So
The partnership with the premium electric performance car manufacturer — which is based in Sweden — is the latest step for Hertz to offer its customers not only the largest rental fleet of electric vehicles in North America; but also one of the largest fleets of electric vehicles in the world…
…and in addition to have the growing fleet of electric vehicles available to both its business customers and leisure customers, the rental car company is extending electric vehicles to rideshare drivers as a way to further accelerate electrification.
“Hertz will initially order Polestar 2, an award-winning EV which established Polestar’s position as a premium EV manufacturer with its first volume model. Polestar 2 brings avant-garde Scandinavian design and leading in-car technology. Polestar 2 includes the world’s first infotainment system powered by Android Automotive OS with Google built-in for the premium EV segment, in a driver-oriented, dynamic driving package”, according to this official press release from Hertz. “Polestar is one of the drivers of global EV growth, helping to accelerate the shift to sustainable mobility as consumer interest in the environmental and convenience benefits of electrification increases. Polestar reported that it nearly tripled volumes in 2021 and anticipates more than doubling volumes again this year. Polestar expects volumes to reach 290,000 vehicles per year by the end of 2025. Polestar previously announced its intention to list on Nasdaq New York in a proposed business combination with Gores Guggenheim, Inc. (Nasdaq: GGPI, GGPIW, and GGPIU), which is expected to close in the second quarter of 2022.”
Availability of Polestar electric vehicles in the rental fleet of The Hertz Corporation is expected to begin in Spring 2022 in Europe and late 2022 in North America and Australia.
Final Boarding Call
When combined with the investment of as many as 100,000 vehicles which are manufactured by Tesla — as was first announced on Monday, October 25, 2021 — electric vehicles could comprise as much as 33 percent of the total fleet of vehicles of The Hertz Corporation.
Although the main reason for the partnership with Polestar is simply to increase the number of electric vehicles in its fleet, I cannot help but wonder if Hertz is also taking some “insurance” to ensure that the rental car company is not completely dependent on Tesla, as Elon Musk — who is the chief executive officer of Tesla, Incorporated — publicly posted some rather blunt messages via social media…
Photograph ©2022 by Brian Cohen.
