(Green Car Reports) — Hertz is beginning the rollout of what the company claims is North America’s largest EV rental fleet in Denver, and showing how it plans to continue that rollout nationwide.
The company on Thursday announced Hertz Electrifies, a public-private partnership model aimed at bringing EVs to rental customers and rideshare drivers in major cities, along with accompanying charging infrastructure.
Hertz plans to deploy up to 5,200 EVs in Denver while adding charging stations at Denver International Airport and its own rental locations. BP Pulse, a unit of the oil company, will also help install public charging stations in Denver neighborhoods as part of an existing partnership with Hertz.
The plan also includes community outreach. Hertz plans to share telematics data to aid charging infrastructure planning, offer summer jobs through the Denver Youth Enrollment Program, and provide EVs, tools, and training to the local Montebello Career and Technical High School’s automotive program.
This model will be replicated in other cities, with Hertz not only deploying EVs and charging stations, providing telematics data to help plan charging networks, and working to help underserved communities.
Hertz has already announced plans to buy 100,000 Tesla Model 3s, up to 65,000 Polestar EVs over five years, and up to 175,000 GM EVs through 2027—plus more from other automakers. With this announcement, it’s become clearer how the company plans to use that sizable fleet.
In addition to traditional rental customers looking for a way to get around while on vacation or a business trip, Hertz plans to offer EVs to rideshare drivers on what the company calls “flexible contracts.” In the U.S., the rental giant is already offering Tesla vehicles to Uber drivers under a special lease program.
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Hertz also earlier this week announced plans with Uber to expand the rollout of EVs to European capitals, starting with London and expanding to Paris and Amsterdam. Uber and Hertz aim to have 25,000 EVs available across Europe by 2025.