We Don’t Need No Flaming Sparky Cars

Alternative Subsidy 36 Comments

Hertz to Sell 20,000 EVs in Shift Back to Gas-Powered Cars

Hertz Global Holdings Inc. plans to sell a third of its US electric vehicle fleet and reinvest in gas-powered cars due to weak demand and high repair costs for its battery-powered options.

The sales of 20,000 EVs began last month and will continue over the course of 2024, the rental giant said Thursday in a regulatory filing

. Hertz will record a non-cash charge in its fourth-quarter results of about $245 million related to incremental net depreciation expense.

36 Replies to “We Don’t Need No Flaming Sparky Cars”

  1. They should keep a few to rent mandatory for all the Guilbeaults/AOCs out there – the crazy/berserk politicians who try to shove down our throats all kind of ‘green’ BS.

    1. No. Let them create their OWN “green” auto rental company. Let them bankrupt themselves … instead of US. And NO MORE taxpayer subsidies. None.

  2. Any news on whether they’ll be returning any portion of their taxpayer-funded purchase “incentives”?

    1. Of course not, the virtue has been signalled, the tax credits have been used, and now they have run into reality, and need to get at least some of the capital invested back

  3. Here’s the best line:

    “it’s not clear if consumers will have an appetite for them (used Hertz EVs) in the used-car market.”

      1. ahhh, I’d buy one for 2 bits – no more. Then use it to light next new year’s fireworks.

      2. That is a line from a movie. The man who uttered that line was Doc Nemo AKA Steve Nemeth. He was a disc jockey in Cleveland in the 60s then moved to California … That is the last I heard of him until I saw the movie … I can’t remember the name of it.

        Doncha love trivia?

          1. The electric cars should have their own voice upon getting in: “Dead or alive, you’re coming with me.”

    2. On the bright side (there’s always a bright side) Jamie, they will be able to write off the losses against taxes.

      Aaaaannd… the taxpayers are screwed coming AND going: subsidies in, tax write-off out.
      –
      –
      –
      People say that the government shouldn’t pick winners and losers. They don’t. They only pick losers. That’s because they and their cronies loot the upside and taxpayers are stuck with the downside.

      1. Business losses aren’t subsidies … they’re losses. If one is taxed on GAINING income and assets … then one should certainly cut taxes when you LOSE income and assets.

        1. Correctamundo, Kenji. Write-offs aren’t subsidies. But I’m certain Hertz received the Federal and some State subsidies available to all when they purchased the EVs. Subsidies in.

          And just like trading your losing stocks at the end of the year to offset your gains, Hertz’s tax write-off is perfectly legal. Write-offs out. We don’t tax money you didn’t make; your money that was lost. But they also lost our subsidy money with that write-off.

          Aw heck! Our subsidy money was gone whether they made money or not.

    3. Especially when the reason stated for getting rid of them was high repair costs compared to ICE vehicles

      1. The partner of a firm I worked for used to intentionally THRASH every car he rented. He’d take fancy automobiles off roading and just tear the shit out of the undercarriage. No visible damage … so no obvious damage charges … but he was just thrashing the suspension, causing oil leaks, and whatnot.

        I can scarcely imagine what that man could do to the low slung battery cells. Goodbye EV

        2. Kenji
          I managed to get my company (my employer) banned by several rental co., as I trashed a few.So others at company tried to out do me, also trashed a few. Fun and games:-)))

    4. Jamie

      Now theres an understatement. LOL
      I cannot for the life of me see anyone with an IQ higher than 10 buy that rolling JUNK..??

      I’d be curious to know the avg cost of recycling 1 EV. I know I shouldn’t say it, (cause there will be a few), but anyone with with 1/2 a brain will steer clear of these…and then what’s Hertz gonna do..??

  4. “Hertz will record a non-cash charge in its fourth-quarter results of about $245 million related to incremental net depreciation expense.”

    Translation: EV resale value is terrible

    1. “We’re selling off our EV fleet because the maintenance costs are ridiculous. Who wants one?”
      You couldn’t pay me to take one off the lot.

  6. Hmmmm… what are they going to do with all those EV chargers they had to install at all of their rental locations?

      1. Doh! Yeah. I was thinking they could power the office coffee maker and turbocharge the hand dryers in their restrooms, but I forgot they weren’t liquidating the whole EV fleet. Thanks for the memory prod, JD.

  7. I have said it many times … EVs are a bust … they cannot replace the reliable ICE vehicles. They are a fad and are mostly being bought by virtue-signalling twats with more money than brains.

    I noted the item that tells of the total failure of the wind and solar in Alberta and no doubt … many other places.

    The joke is not funny anymore.

  9. Batteries
    EV VS ICE.
    2023/4 Hyundai Ionic 5 Battery Replacement:
    $ 60,000 CAD

    07 D’max
    2 Odyssey Extreme 12V Grp 75 850 CCA.
    $ 1140. CAD (yea expensive, no question but good for -61C)

    …and right now in Calgary NW @ 8:11 AM, she be some -35C Glad to have dedicated plug-in for blk heater and battery minder.

    1. I saw that $60K battery replacement cost story – more than what the B.C. fella bought his Ionic 5 for in the first place. Apparently it doesn’t take much of a scratch on the battery cover to void the warranty. There’s no diagnostics that can give a picture of internal battery damage so once it’s been determined that the battery may of been impacted that seems to be all it takes. Nobody wants the spontaneous fire liability of being wrong on that judgement, least of all the Insurance Company. Good times ahead for the makers of expensive things nobody wants…

    1. To your point this comment from Instapundit made me chuckle:
      “Red flags
      1. It’s a used EV
      2. “Drive it like a rental” is a phrase.”

      Don’t know who’d have the courage to park one of those in an attached garage and then sleep at night.

  11. “Hertz’s shares fell 4.3% to $8.95 as of 10:01 a.m. in New York. The stock declined 32% last year.”

    Hertz donut.

    1. Remember, Hertz bankrupted during Covid. So, they placed great faith in EVs post-bankruptcy.
      FAFO.
      Note the relatively high mileage on those units for sale. Very high compared to typical used rental vehicle sales, and of course, for an EV, that much closer to battery hell.
      Asking prices too are much cheaper than in Canada. Not unusual for used Teslas to be priced from high $40s, certainly not $22kA (equal to ~ $30kC).
      In any event, no doubt they’ve been beaten as rentals. Rule#1, drive them HARD!

  12. What a pity. Disposing of those EV’s could hurt their ESG score.
    Gonna be hard now for Hertz to top their virtue-signalling EPA-brown-nosing report for 2022:
    https://ir.hertz.com/static-files/c8225819-4cc8-4553-8a89-cfa5225ad682.
    Hertz boasts of being an EPA Green Power Partnership ’10x Partner’. Does their EV selloff and $12250 per EV write-down make Hertz EPA’s first Green Power Partnership ‘Ex-Partner’?
    At least it’s reassuring to come across an example of being stupid Hertz.

Proudly powered by WordPress & Skyrocket Themes

MENU

Navigation