Hertz Teams Up With Uber on Teslas for Hire

The car rental firm is ordering 50,000 Model 3 sedans for ride-hailing drivers to rent.

October 28, 2021

Tesla

ALEXANDRIA, Va.—Uber and car rental company Hertz have partnered to supply Uber drivers with Teslas, reports Reuters.

By 2023, Hertz will offer 50,000 Teslas to Uber drivers who want to rent the car when driving for Uber. Uber drivers can rent a Tesla through Hertz starting on Nov. 1 in Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego and Washington D.C., with the program later this year expanding to cities nationwide.

It will cost Uber drivers at minimum $334 a week to rent a Tesla, and this includes insurance and maintenance. Uber said the rental cost would drop to $299 per week or lower as the program expands in the coming year. The rentals would mostly consist of Tesla’s Model 3 sedan.

“Research shows that when rideshare drivers go electric, they realize three to four times greater emissions savings than average car owners,” said Andrew Macdonald, senior vice president of mobility and business operations, Uber, in a statement.

This is Uber's most significant step so far in expanding the use of EVs on its platform. The company says it plans to operate only electric vehicles on its United States, Canadian and European platform by 2030 and worldwide by 2040. But Uber has a long way to go with only 0.15% of all Uber miles in the United States and Canada driven in electric vehicles, according to company data.

Hertz has ordered 100,000 Teslas total, which means that half of its supply of that fleet will go to Uber. This is the biggest-ever Tesla order for the electric car company.

Hertz also announced a separate partnership with online used-car dealer Carvana. Under the agreement, Hertz would reduce its reliance on mass auctions to offload used rental fleet vehicles and instead sell vehicles directly to consumers through Carvana.

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