The other price to wonder about is that of the rental vs ICE vehicles.
While I daily-drive an EV, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't want one for a rental just yet. Charging infrastructure isn't quite to the point that you can teleport to some random place and not need to think at all about anything. Tesla is closer to that than anybody else.
I also tend to just drive more when I'm traveling, and so the range limitations will be much more meaningful under those circumstances than normal. My Bolt gets me about 240-280 miles of real driving per charge and it's totally fine for everything I normally do.
Of course I applaud Hertz for supporting consumer choice in this regard. Different folks will have different needs on different trips, myself included.
So if they're doing it the way EHI's been doing it: there won't be a need to recharge. I've received half-full EVs from EHI and returned them almost entirely discharged without any surcharges.
LFP batteries can be fully charged and Tesla is switching their standard range vehicles to LFP. It's possible that Hertz is ordering standard range / LFP Teslas.
Car rental companies aren't in it for the long term. iirc they hang on to a vehicle for an average of something like 8 or 9 months (Was told this many, many years ago, so probably a bit out of date, but probably not off by much.)
It's quite simple to figure out, once you understand no electric charging and consumption can happen without the knowledge of the car computer, which is programmed by Tesla, which just received a $5 bilion dolar order from Hertz. Surely they can fit a bit of Hertz-specific "charge monitoring" code in this price tag.
In fact, electrics open up a whole world of pricing and customer ripoff models.
Instead of charging you $5 a gallon, they can even charge $.50 per kWh (or translate it to miles) and that's something like a 3x markup. Even more if they use a renewable energy source.
In my rough calculations, it costs something like $5-$7 to charge from empty to full on my Model-3 mid-range.
"San Francisco area households paid an average of 26.3 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh) of electricity in September 2021." [1].
The standard Model 3 has a 50kWh battery, so the cost is roughly $13.
If you charge between 23:00-07:00 the cost is reduced to $7 [2], though presumably that incurs the cost of installing an extra meter. It would be $9.50 sticking with a single meter for house + car.
(For what it's worth, in Denmark the lowest I'm charged is currently double the night rate for PG&E, although the peak day rate is similar. It varies depending on demand and how windy it is forecast to be [3]. But petrol is $2.10/L, so the other commenter's 100L car would be $210 to fill — though at 12.5L/100km, it's pretty inefficient. New vehicles in the US use 9L/100km, in the EU new vehicles average under 5L/100km.)
[1] is not a good measure, because of low income subsidies not everyone qualifies for. I live in the Bay area, and I pay 35-41 cents/kwh in summer. Now if I charge during the nights with the EV plan, I get preferential price of 14 cents/kwh but that makes my day time use (for other things) that much more expensive. Sorry, I didn't mention I drive a long range model 3, and quoted the price for it, not the parent's mid range.
My ICE car is $50-$70 to fill the tank (26gal/100l) from empty to full. And gets me 450-500 miles. So I'm a tad bit jealous, just not enough to take on a car payment.
Our second car is an older Beetle and we've kept it around for exactly that reason, it's paid off, and even the occasional repairs needed on it annually are way cheaper than a monthly auto loan payment. When I used to commute (pre-COVID, I'm never, ever going back to that), we still used it.
Exactly. When you are running late to get to the airport, stopping to charge your Tesla is a bigger delay than stopping to gas up a car, so this will likely give them even more people they can gouge.
And having a charger at the hotel you stay out won't be enough considering how many times I have filled up the tank the night before, but they could still tell that I used gas just driving from the hotel to the airport.
I deeply hope they don't charge you for electricity, that would be a huge bummer and really counterproductive to their goal of having these luxury cars actually feel luxurious.
I say this having never driven a Tesla, but are they really suitable rental cars? My understanding is that Tesla vehicles differ quite a bit from regular ICE vehicles, to the point that there's a bit of a learning curve to operating the car.
I'd be interested to hear from a Tesla owner on this. Maybe it's a non-issue.
In what sense? They’re quite a bit quicker than ICE cars and regeneration is something you need to get used to, but nothing that’s radically different.
With these the big issue would be charging them - people might not know not to go to a gas station.
Also wonder how the “full tank” policy will work with EVs where ideally you want to hover around 80%
Where they might not be suitable rental cars is the reliability. There are some horror stories where people wait 6+ months for their cars to be fixed, based on parts availability, but Hertz probably has some service requirements built in the contract.
If they are ordering 100k of them, there's a chance Hertz gets a customized version of the software the specifically directs people to Superchargers and/or has some type of instructional flow they have to go through before they can drive.
>Also wonder how the “full tank” policy will work with EVs where ideally you want to hover around 80%
I thought for electric cars, that's already baked in? in other words, the car displays 100% and stops charging, but the battery is actually 80% charged. Also, I think for electric cars, they'll waive the "full tank" requirement or charge you a reasonable amount to make up the difference (cost of electricity plus a small markup). I sure as hell don't want to spend 30 minutes at a charging station the morning of my flight.
Nope, you can configure it, at least on Teslas. There's a slider you can adjust to tell the car how much it should charge to, so that with daily driving you usually charge to 80%, but if you're going on a roadtrip and want 100% - you can do 100%.
With the battery chemistries they work with there isn’t necessarily a “full” mark, there’s a cell voltage at which you’re pretty likely to start a fire… but the set point you decide is “full” is arbitrary.
You set this a ways away for safety, then another step down for longevity (which as the battery ages you step up gradually to get a more flat capacity over time)
As long as you don’t risk self discharge below a threshold over a period of time, you preserve more longevity the lower the storage charge you use. There is a diminishing return though so you pick something practical.
And I doubt they’d have you charge it at all before returning, they would have chargers in every space at the rental garage, and probably work out time of day rates with electric companies to maximize savings.
Someone found Hertz's updated Terms & Conditions. tl;dr you are expected to return the car with at least 10% charge.
TESLA
These Electric Vehicle Rental Terms (“Rental Terms”) are between The Hertz Corporation (“Hertz” or “us”) and You and apply to a rental of an electric vehicle (“EV”) from Hertz. An EV is defined as a vehicle that exclusively uses battery power rather than gasoline or diesel fuel. These Electric Vehicle Rental Terms are in addition to the Terms and Conditions of the Rental Agreement applicable to your rental.
CHARGE LEVEL AT PICK-UP AND RETURN– Hertz will endeavor to provide the EV at time of vehicle pick-up with a battery charge of 80%. You are required to return the EV with a minimum charge of 10%. You are responsible to maintain a sufficient charge on the EV during your rental. You will be responsible for the cost of any tow if the EV is not drivable due to a low battery. You are not authorized to call a private tow on Hertz’ behalf. All tows of the EV must be by flatbed and must be arranged through Hertz Emergency Roadside Assistance.
RANGE – Range is the estimated distance an EV can travel on a single charge. The EV information provided with your reservation that describes a range is not guaranteed. The battery life of the EV is impacted by a number of factors including weather, driving and road conditions. It is your responsibility to ensure the EV has sufficient remaining battery life to return the EV to Hertz or reach an EV charging station.
CHARGING DURING RENTAL – Subject to Tesla’s terms and conditions, Tesla EV’s are able to access Tesla Superchargers to recharge the EV. If You use a Tesla Supercharger to recharge the EV during your rental, that cost will be billed back to Hertz and added to your rental charges. These charges may not appear on the final invoice and may be added later due to processing time. Battery charging limit on a Tesla should be set at 90% maximum. You may recharge the EV at other public or private charging locations at your own cost. You may also have to register and incur a fee at certain of these locations. You are responsible for any registration (including accepting terms and conditions and privacy policy) and any fees. If You do not move the EV promptly from the charging stall when it is finished charging You may incur an Idle fee for the time the EV remains in a charging stall after it is finished charging. You are responsible for and will indemnify Hertz for any Idle or similar fee incurred when the EV is on rent to You.
DAMAGE TO CHARGING STATIONS – You are responsible for any damage to the EV, the charging station equipment or the charging location when charging the EV during your rental. You will indemnify Hertz for any charges, fines, or penalties You incur for any damage or loss to the EV, the charging station or location during your rental.
EQUIPMENT – The EV will be provided to You with certain equipment for which You are responsible. You are responsible to notify Hertz if any of the following equipment is not with the EV at the time of pick up. Otherwise, You will be charged for any missing equipment at return. Loss Damage Waiver (LDW) does not apply to damage or loss of the equipment provided with the EV.
Key card or fob – You are responsible to return the Key card or Key fob upon your rental return. If the Key card or fob is damaged or lost, You will be charged to replace the Key Card or fob and a service fee. The Key card or Key fob must only be used to charge the EV You have rented. Sharing the Key card or Key fob, using additional Key cards or Key fobs to charge the EV, or charging other vehicles is prohibited. Any misuse of the Key card or Key fob in breach of these Rental Terms will result in additional usage charges.
Tesla Charging Kit – The Tesla Charging Kit consists of 1 Mobile Connector; 1 Storage Bag; and 1 NEMA 5-15 Adapter. You are responsible to return all contents of the Charging Kit upon your rental return. If the Charging Kit, or any part of the contents are damaged or lost, You will be charged for a complete Charging Kit, as these items are not available to be replaced individually, and a service fee.
J1772 Adapter – You are responsible to return the J1772 Adapter on your rental return. If this Adapter is damaged or lost, You will be charged to replace the Adapter and a service fee.
DASH CAM AND PERSONAL DATA – The EV may be equipped with a Dash Cam which may record incidents involving the EV during your rental and privacy is not guaranteed. You are responsible at return to delete all personal data input by You or collected by the EV during your rental.
>My understanding is that Tesla vehicles differ quite a bit from regular ICE vehicles, to the point that there's a bit of a learning curve to operating the car.
>I'd be interested to hear from a Tesla owner on this
Not a Tesla owner, but I did take one for a 30 minute test drive. There wasn't really any learning curve except for that when you let your foot off the accelerator (gas?) pedal, the regenerative braking kicks in, and you start slowing down very quickly. I didn't touch the brake pedal for the whole drive. Got used to it in a few minutes.
The hardest thing for me was the cruise control. Only a subset of autopilot features were enabled and I found it a bit difficult to operate.
Tesla used to have "Standard" and "Low" settings for how strong the regenerative braking is, but just found an article that says they removed the low option, which would be a bummer in my opinion.
Coasting is way more efficient than regenerative braking slowing your roll, causing you to need to accelerate again.
Hence why many non-car electrified rides disable Regen braking in Eco mode when your not accelerating or braking as keeping that mechanical energy & momentum is much more efficient than paying the conversion penalty to turn it back into electricity.
As far as I can tell, from the somewhat minimal GUI Tesla gives you, and the general feeling while driving...
You can "coast" with regen on, you just need to balance the accelerator at the point where you aren't adding power, but the car isn't taking power away.
You won't see any green or black on the power usage bar.
Coming down long mountain roads, it's somewhat easier than coasting in an ICE and having to continually shift down gears or ride the brakes (which is obviously bad).
This seems insane to me. "Do nothing and the car coasts" versus "balance this pin and the car coasts" is such a massive dichotomy shift that it seems like poor design. It's a car, not a helicopter.
You're massively overestimating the level of effort needed to hold the accelerator steady. The software seems to understand your intent and will help keep the speed relatively steady. Its not like making a millimeter adjustment of the pedal adjusts your speed by 20mph. It took me only a few minutes to get used to it. I'm able to keep a far more even average speed in my electric car than I am my ICE car, as now when I start getting off the gas it actually starts to slow down instead of coasting meaning I'm exerting more control in one motion instead of having to make two motions to achieve the same effect. I'm also usually smoother at slowing down in an electric with heavy regen. I never have to switch between accelerator, not pressing any pedals, to braking. Its just smoothly getting on the accelerator, holding it when I'm at the speed I want, and then slowly getting off the accelerator when I'm wanting to slow or stop. Then once the car stops I take my foot off the pedal and the car holds itself in place.
You're still thinking of pressing the accelerator as "open the throttle on the carburetor this much". On modern cars these days, pressing the accelerator is really more like "I'd like to go this fast", especially in electric cars. Its a vastly different experience.
I don't think I've actually touched my brake pedal in the last 2,000mi in my electric car, and I drive almost exclusively city driving on it.
If you his the accelerator steady, you can easily keep a pretty constant speed. It's not like you have to either be slamming on the accelerator or completely off the accelerator, you can keep it constant and hold a speed. I really prefer single pedal as with just the single pedal I get far more control of my speed than if I had to switch between two pedals. Want to slow down a little? Just ease up a little. Want to go faster? Just ease a bit more on.
I have not seen coasting modes to be more efficient than single pedal on my own electric car.
Oh my, this reminds me of a Lyft I got home from the airport once. The driver didn't know how to hold the throttle steady and was constantly on and off the gas for the entire 15 mile drive back home on the interstate. I was nauseous and nearly puking by the time I got home, even sitting in the front passenger seat because I'm already prone to motion sickness.
I'm hoping their car was actually broken in some way, because I'm assuming they had owned a license for decades at that point.
However, I'm pessimistic and curious if some people just learn to drive with the constant coasting on and off the throttle? Maybe it's an international thing? I'm not sure but I will never forget that ride!
Oh god, I feel you. That, but with a 2 y.o. feeling sick in the back, on their way to a pediatrician's office, was my wife's recent experience with one of the faux-taxi services (Bolt or FreeNow, don't remember which), and the driver was lucky - few more minutes of this, and he'd have to do a thorough cleaning of the back of the car.
Regen braking is one of the best features of an EV. I wish I could figure out how to make my Bolt default to 'one pedal' mode. I use the brakes less than 10% of normal now, and it helps me leave more space because I want to maximize the energy return by slowing more slowly.
It depends on the manufacturer, but some cars allow a coasting mode for when the throttle pedal is released and do brake blending for the brake pedal, which prioritises regen and only adds the hydraulic brakes when the regen brake force isn't enough.
This is unfortunate to hear. My least favorite thing about automatic cars is that the pedals don't increase and decrease the momentum of the car. Instead, the car slowly moves at all times unless the brakes are hit, and the "gas" is treated as more of a hint system for if the car should speed up or slow down.
I hopped in my Tesla for the first time and after a single stop sign where I stopped kind of weird (not honestly that bad), that was it. The Tesla person on the initial lesson assumed I'd driven one before. You get the hang of it really quick. Same story for many other people who've driven my car. If you're not using regenerative breaking it's pretty much like a normal car sans the small acceleration gas cars provide with no braking.
In my experience cars with diesel engines and manual transmissions also had the tendency to creep forward instead of stalling while in first gear when neither brake nor accelerator pedal was stepped on.
All cars will creep forward with the first gear on. The thing is, if you're already going faster than 10km/h, they'll decelerate towards that surprisingly quickly.
Not really. On petrol cars, if you let go of the clutch in 1st gear and not pushing on the gas, you'll most likely stall. Diesels often don't do this, and creep instead (all of this assuming you're letting go of the clutch slowly enough, otherwise, you'll stall for sure)
It depends on the condition of the clutch. If it’s a newer clutch or in great shape: definitely not once the gear is fully engaged. I can’t drive my petrol cars in forward or reverse at driveway speeds without riding the clutch a bit to stop from going too fast.
Yea, this is sorta true. If you leave a manual transmission car in gear then the momentum of the pistons, and the minimal gas it's fed to prevent stalling in neutral, will give a very slight push at sufficiently slow speeds. It's much smaller than the effect you get from an automatic, though, where the gas delivered to the engine is enough to keep it from stalling even when shifting to drive from a dead standstill.
Mostly I'm thinking of the situation where you break to a stop. In a manual, you have pushed in the clutch so the wheels are completely disconnected from the engine, giving zero creep when you release the brake, whereas in an automatic the car will start to creep.
Try a test drive sometime. The Tesla stores only need to give a minute of explanation. A rental employee would do the same thing. They are easy to understand.
As a non-Tesla owner, I'd love to rent a Tesla on my vacations just to try it before deciding on buying one. I'd say it's much better for renting than buying, as I know how I would use it beforehand.
> As a non-Tesla owner, I'd love to rent a Tesla on my vacations just to try it before deciding on buying one.
Me too. I actually looked into that a few months ago. In Boston Massachusetts, there is this place: https://www.teslarents.com/
But we were going to San Francisco not Boston, and there was nothing that I could google up. With the exception of Oslo, Norway; I've never seen so many Teslas as I did in the Bay area, but it seemed really hard to rent one for a few days.
Maybe by the next time that I'm there a Tesla 3 will be standard at Hertz, but in 2021 you'll be lucky to get a Nissan. The competence and availability was low.
I'm not sure that I "get" Turo. this is ... Airbnb for cars?
In any case, I don't think it would have worked for us, we handed the car back days later, in a different city. Which is fine for Hertz, but probably not for a Turo "host"?
It's likely that by the next time we're there, things will be different.
Yes, like airbnb. The host delivers and retrieves the vehicle within whatever operating radius they want to offer, so two cities is very unlikely. However, I think there is some kind of variable delivery fee, so as long as you want to pay that and get the owner to agree to set a gigantic radius, it might work.
> You’re not able to set one location for pickup and a different location for drop off when you book your trip. But once the trip is booked, you can request to change your delivery pickup or drop off location. Once the trip is in progress you can still request to change the drop off location. The new location must be one where the host already offers delivery, or it must be within their custom delivery radius.
In my area there are multiple Chrysler 300Cs that are "available" to rent for $600/day.
Except they're not available. They're actively being rented for weeks on end.
Would be a great plan if you were a dealer. Have one of your customers rent your car for $600/day (no legit customer will pay that for a 300C), and you launder cash. Best part is you don't even need to actually rent out your car - they're not going to complain that they didn't get a car, because they never needed it.
My concern with renting one (which for now would stop me from doing it), is the scarcity of charging locations. Not sure how far apart they are in most locations nowadays, or what wait times are like, but if I'm on vacation (which is when I most often rent), then no hassle is worth it. There are gas stations everywhere.
When you rent a car, do you pick the type of car today? I always have, I usually see a big list of cars, where larger/more luxurious is pricier. I imagine that's what Hertz will do here. Teslas on the menu, but if you don't want to, or are driving more than 200 miles, you should just go with a Camry.
I was dubious renting a Tesla on turo in Hawaii but I think you would find that charging an electric car at the places you are staying is increasingly an option that is lower cost and less stressful than going to a gas station before going back to the airport.
I also suspect they will have lower backend operating costs and potentially cost drivers less on additional insurance since they can operate in FSD and put the liability on Tesla.
Tesla have a massive charging network of their own, plus you can use all/most of the other public charging stations. In most locations in North America, Europe, Australia as well as some Asian countries you have good access to charging infrastructure.
Tesla's navigation software will show charging locations, as well as add stops automatically if you're planning a route that's too far for the current state of charge.
Plugshare is a good site for finding chargers of all types.
The drive stalk and the parking brake, sure. But are you explaining to them how to shift into neutral? How to turn on/off the windshield wipers? Headlights? Pairing phones to use as keys? How to use the valet card?
I have a model 3 but I forget this crap all the time. They'll need to provide decent documentation beyond the touch screen (and I'm sure they will).
Most people won’t need to touch those things. Headlights and wipers are auto by default. Neutral is needed for car washes or towing which are both abnormal situations for a rental.
And I kind of doubt they’re going to let you pair it with a phone key to the normal Tesla app like you own the car.
I rented an electric Zipcar recently (not a Tesla), without any previous experience of electric cars. My only problem was switching it on, which doesn't quite work like an ICE and there is some control position you need to adopt before it will let you do it. The ten minutes I spent on that were quite frustrating, since I was late and it seemed like I might not be able to get the car to work; also because Zipcar charge by the minute. But I had no problems after that.
I assume there is a little bit of a "meme stock" element to this, the reddit folks will love it, but I think I would pay a small premium for an electric car when renting (unless I needed long distance). More likely I pay a premium for that than for than the higher end ICE car options at car rental.
The problem is that when you are renting from Hertz you are probably new to the area and don't know where you are going and if there are any charging stations nearby.
My main car rental situation was travelling to work headquarters where I had in the past lived, and renting cars for weekend trips because I did not own one. In both cases I would choose electric and was familiar with the area. But I may not be typical.
No FSD, they are paying $42k per Model 3 which is “nicely appointed” not base models. FSD would add $10k per vehicle. They can always buy FSD later (although price is expected to keep going up). But presumably they are locked to the $42k price now over the next 14 months even if Tesla keeps increasing the price.
Everyone with a bit of AI/ML knowledge already knew this but from this story it should be clear that Tesla's plan to convert their fleet into self-driving Taxis is basically dead.
You can't buy out a Tesla lease because they are using those lease returns to stock their self-driving fleet. And until this changes then Tesla's plan is still in play.
Hope they disable some of the Tesla Easter eggs. Having the road diagram turn into a rainbow and Don’t Fear The Reaper blast out of the speakers because you hit an on screen button four times is pretty unnerving if you’re familiar with the car and really wouldn’t be what you want having just got off a long flight and driving in a city you don’t know in a car you don’t know.
christ, I want a cool electric car more and more. but reading stuff like this all the time is just re-enforcing my decision to leave Tesla off that list of potentials.
A car is a tool I use to get my family around from point A to B SAFELY. Its also a fairly significant chunk of debt, and I want it to last a long time and behave EXACTLY the way I expect it to. Every day.
Thus far there isn’t really a no-nonsense EV with limited tech and phsyical buttons for everything. Once you go the big center screen route you are kind of locking yourself into an infotainment computer that will be obsolete long before the cars powertrain is and an interface that will change over time like a modern smartphone.
Once you know those truths, Tesla isn’t a bad choice as their computers are at least partially upgradeable and the interface changes have been decent from my perspective (although this is hugely subjective).
A good chunk of this is that Tesla's are designed very carefully for these exact tests.
I'm willing to bet performance would drop substantially if you modified the test even a little - for example changing the collision angle from 0 degrees to 5 degrees.
Other car manufacturers also 'design for the test', but less so I suspect.
I see this sort of “concern trolling” so often around Tesla and I just shake my head. Really, an easter egg inspires this reaction? I’m sorry, I don’t believe it.
> Car-rental firm, recently emerged from bankruptcy under new ownership, orders vehicles by the end of 2022
That does sound crazy that they re doing it while they ll be still in pandemic, which bankrupted them in the first place. I guess in the US people can always find a charger. I wonder how many people will rent those cars for the novelty factor, and novelty only works once. And it will be interesting to see what people think after they have rented one
I wonder if the goal is to consume the market so it's more difficult for other rental car companies to get Teslas?
Personal anecdote but I already am generally willing to pay a slight premium for Hertz over other rental companies and would be willing to pay slightly more still if it meant renting a Tesla.
The beauty of being the first in the market. All the manufacturers with the shiny new EVs will have a higher marketing cost because Tesla is able to get the free PR and the best co-promotional deals like this one.
Many people are wondering where Hertz found the money to make this purchase.
> it will be interesting to see what people think after they have rented one
They will absolutely love it, just like I did when I rented one on Turo and then bought a new one the very next day. Also, the Hertz crowd is exactly the right target customer for Tesla. All of which shows how brilliant this deal is for Tesla, and how incentivized they must have been to make it happen. Which likely answers the question above.
Car rental companies (including Hertz) sold a bunch of cars and that combined with increased cleaning and a return to volume means rental car inventory is very tight at some locations... it's no surprise that they're ordering more cars. These particular cars, maybe a little surprising, but they sold a lot during bankruptcy, so they've got to restock.
Hertz just declared itself bankrupt a year ago, now they have 4bn cash to spare? Both things cannot be true at the same time.
Either the 'bankruptcy' was a fraud, or the Tesla deal has some small letters like "of which we will acquire 1,000 per year for the next 100 years".
Sure, the official story is "we were bankrupt but we found new investors at the most convenient time", but that could've easily planned beforehand. Also, they raise 1.65bn [1], but suddenly spend 4bn? The math doesn't add up.
>Hertz just declared itself bankrupt a year ago, now they have 4bn cash to spare?
where did you get 4B from? presumably $40k per car multiplied by 100k cars? The cars are probably financed, so they don't really need the entire $40k upfront. Using the tesla leasing calculator https://www.tesla.com/support/tesla-leasing, a $40k model 3 only costs $19,299 for the first 36 months.
>Also, they raise 1.65bn [1],
the source you linked says the 1.65B is from coronavirus relief. It doesn't preclude them from raising more through other channels, eg debt/equity.
>the source you linked says the 1.65B is from coronavirus relief. It doesn't preclude them from raising more through other channels, eg debt/equity.
Sure, but I doubt they raised more than 4bn. Even if they did, don't you think is a bit fishy to suddenly spend your whole lifeline in (not a few, but) a hundred thousand electric cars?
They don't need 4bn, and it's very normal for them to enter some big long-term contracts for more cars, and the upfront and first-year spending for this won't get anywhere near 1.65bn. So no, not fishy.
They filed for bankruptcy because they couldn't make their lease payments. That doesn't mean they were not viable and needed to liquidate everything, it just means they couldn't pay on time and needed (or wanted) some more time to arrange things. Filing chapter 11 gives you some more time to make payments and come up with a plan to return to operations and pay back debt. Shareholders and creditors agreed to the plan, and it's back to business (well, business continues during Chapter 11 anyway).
I didn't see any details on the purchase deal, but maybe they'll come out later. There's probably provisions to change the amounts, and certainly these vehicles will be financed in some form, whether that's Tesla financing or otherwise.
Makes sense. I'd wager a good chunk of rentals (especially business use) use under a single charge worth of mileage and the reduced maintenance fees are probably a big deal for Hertz.
American car makers dug themselves a hole because there were a few populations that would buy American cars no matter how bad they got: refugees from WWII (e.g. old Italians, Poles, Jews and Veterans who would never buy a German or Japanese car), police departments, and rental cars. In a case like that the Ralph Naders and the Consumer Reports can be pointing out how bad your product is but they can point to people who still buy it, cover their ears and sing "la la la".
In principle renting a car could be an experience like "I drove a Buick and I liked it" (happened once to me) but more often the vehicle has been trashed, things like the controls for the seat position are busted, etc.
Car rentals move some metal in the short term but they damage the brand in the long term.
Add to that thee fact that Teslas seem to have fit and finish issues that show up in under 10,000 miles, I expect a lot of people will have a negative first impression. Or maybe they won't because they expect rentals to be in bad shape?
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