Rental firm Hertz Global Holdings (HTZ.O) said on Thursday it would sell about 20,000 electric vehicles, including Teslas, from its U.S. fleet due to higher expenses related to collision and damage, and will opt for gas-powered vehicles.
Shares of the company, which also operates vehicles from Swedish EV maker Polestar among others, fell about 4%. Tesla’s (TSLA.O) stock was down about 3%.
Hertz also expects to book an about $245 million charge related to depreciation expenses from the proposed EV sale in the fourth quarter of 2023.
Hertz’s decision underscores the bumpy road EVs have hit as the growth rate on sales of those vehicles has slowed, causing carmakers like General Motors (GM.N) and Ford (F.N) to scale back production plans of those vehicles.
Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas in a note said the car rental firm’s move was a warning across the EV space and it was another sign that EV expectations need to be “reset downward across the market.”
“While consumers enjoy the driving experience and fuel savings (per mile) of an EV, there are other ‘hidden’ costs to EV ownership,” Jonas added.
This would makes sense so we have two options:
Teslas crash more often (which they actually do: https://cleantechnica.com/2023/12/20/tesla-drivers-get-into-the-most-crashes-but-why/)
Batteries in EVs are easily demanded. I found this:
The benefit of these structural battery packs is mostly in the assembly — using the battery as a part of the architecture makes it quicker (and therefore cheaper) to construct the entire car. (https://jalopnik.com/ev-battery-damage-minor-crash-car-totaled-recycling-1850243294)
So Tesla definitely has this problem. I can’t find info about other brands but my guess is that for example my Berlingo doesn’t use structural battery since it has the same design as ICE version. It really looks like Teslas as just terrible cars for car rental but not necessarily indicate ‘hidden’ costs for EVs in general.