Following an exit from bankruptcy less than four months ago, the car rental company Hertz has placed an order for 100,000 Teslas in an effort to electrify its rental-car fleet, reports say.
The cars are set to be delivered over the next 14 months. Tesla Inc.’s Model 3 sedans will be available at Hertz locations in major U.S. markets and parts of Europe in early November, Hertz said in a statement.
Hertz will also work to build its own charging infrastructure to go along with its fleet of supercharged electric cars.
The order is the single largest purchase of electric vehicles ever and will reportedly generate $4.2 billion in revenue for Tesla.
In a commercial advertising the new fleet, Hertz showed off the Teslas along with Superbowl champion Tom Brady, who was recharging himself.
In an interview with Bloomberg, Mark Fields, who joined Hertz as the interim chief executive officer earlier this month, talked about the company's efforts to align with electric vehicles.
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“How do we democratize access to electric vehicles? That’s a very important part of our strategy,” Fields said. “Tesla is the only manufacturer that can produce EVs at scale.”
While rental companies usually order cars at a discount, Hertz reportedly paid full price for their Tesla order.
The rental company's order will take up about one-tenth of the Teslas that are produced in a year, stopping similar companies from following in their footsteps.
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