Staff Reports
In a recent twist that must have President Biden fuming, Hertz rental car company has thrown a major wrench into the administration’s fervent push for “green” energy by pulling the plug on its electric vehicles and making a beeline back to good old gasoline-powered cars.
Just the other day, Hertz dropped the bombshell that it is ditching a whopping 20,000 electric vehicles – which equates to about one-third of its electric fleet – and swapping them out for trusty gas-guzzling rides. According to Hertz, the costly repairs for the EVs played a big role in the decision to switch gears and return to the tried-and-true gasoline vehicles.
⚠️ JUST IN :
*HERTZ TO SELL ABOUT 20,000 ELECTRIC VEHICLES FROM U.S. FLEET DUE TO LOW DEMAND AND HIGHER COSTS
*HERTZ TO USE A PORTION OF THE MONEY RAISED TO BUY GAS POWERED CARS$HTZ pic.twitter.com/mjbCm1OVg8
— Investing.com (@Investingcom) January 11, 2024
This move marks a sharp turnaround for Hertz, especially considering their grand announcement in 2022 about plans to snap up a whopping 165,000 EVs from Tesla and Volvo unit Polestar. The about-face means they’ll be taking a hefty $245 million hit. Ouch!
In 2023, Hertz was crowing about its partnership with the Biden administration and its bid to make electric vehicles more readily available to the masses. But it seems the demand for EV rentals wasn’t quite as sizzling as they hoped, which is a bitter pill to swallow for the company’s bigwigs.
This unveiled a seismic de-escalation in the EV market, dealing a bruising blow to Biden’s grand plans for transitioning to green energy. And Hertz isn’t the only one feeling the sting – Ford socked it to Biden’s energy dreams when it slashed production of its all-electric F-150 ‘Lightning’ pickup truck by a hefty half, citing billion-dollar losses, exorbitant costs, and lackluster demand for EVs.
This about-face from both Hertz and Ford just goes to show that no amount of wishful thinking from the administration can conjure up demand for electric vehicles out of thin air. Looks like the green energy “transition” may be in for a rude awakening.
