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Hertz’s used EVs prove to be ‘glitchy, damaged nightmares’ for new owners

By Olivia Murray

E.V. battery fires are inextinguishable—first responders just keep it as cool as possible until it “extinguishes” itself. Then you hope it doesn’t reignite, but you can’t know, because you don’t know how much has burned, so post-fire E.V. vehicles must be kept separated at scrap yards in the event they spontaneously combust again. And of course, unlike gas cars, burning lithium batteries release highly toxic fumes, which makes exposure to a burning E.V. a serious health concern.

Allow me to provide a brief timeline of events, for context’s sake.

In 2021, Hertz announced that by 2024, 25% of its rental fleet would consist of electric vehicles; with this in mind, the company also announced that it would be purchasing 100,000 Teslas by 2022.

In November of 2023, news emerged that Hertz was nowhere near attaining its ambitious goals, and the onboarding of E.V.s into the fleet would be slower than originally planned, because of astronomical repairs costs and price cuts in the E.V. industry.

In January of this year, it looked like Hertz had reneged altogether when the company started selling off its E.V.s in a fire sale, with the intention of purchasing… more gas-powered vehicles.

By March, the CEO who was largely responsible for the debacle resigned in disgrace.

All of this brings us to where we are now, and, checking in on Hertz’s progress—er, more like regress, we find that things are not going well…at all. Here’s the story, from Lawrence Hodge at Jalopnik, published yesterday:

Hertz’s Used Teslas Are Glitchy, Damaged Nightmares (Update)

Hertz gambled and lost when it placed its big EV bet on Tesla a few years ago. It was a chance for the rental car company to shake up the industry, instead the company bought 30,000 Teslas, got scared away by depreciation and expensive repairs and now wants to get rid of them.

…

This made for incredible used EV buys, especially when you factor in the used EV tax credit of $4,000. People scrambled to Hertz dealers buying them up. One salesman at a Hertz dealer in Smithtown, New York told New York Magazine that they were selling as many as 30 Teslas a week at one point. A slowdown came when buyers finally started to realize just what they got themselves into.

Now, Hodge’s piece includes the testimony of Bijay Pandey, via the original item at NYMag:

[A]lmost immediately, there were problems. After getting a temporary title, he [Pandey] found the car wasn’t reading voltage correctly. Soon, a body shop found a quarter-size hole in the undercarriage he hadn’t seen before, which led to revelations of deeper issues inside. ‘The high-voltage battery pack is damaged and could cause extreme safety concerns,’ a Tesla technician texted him. Because the hole was ‘exterior damage,’ it wasn’t covered by the warranty, which meant a $13,078.58 repair bill. Hertz said that it would swap the car for Pandey, but for about two months he waited — making $500 payments on his auto loan — before getting a replacement. ‘I realized why they were trying to get rid of those Teslas,’ he said. ‘If anything happens to a Tesla, then the bill is too high.’

Pandey can’t be the brightest guy, because Hertz explicitly cited repair costs as a reason for selling off the fleet, a fact which was covered in the media for months, but nonetheless, his E.V. ownership experience highlights serious (safety and financial) concerns.

It is clear that damage to the battery can occur, and a small hole can cost five-figures to repair; now consider road debris, or little bits of gravel or rock kicked up into the undercarriage at high speeds. Especially when you think about these cars having been rentals, in which drivers are less concerned with wear and tear because it’s not their vehicle, and they’re not the ones paying to maintain it.

And, what about this: E.V.s are typically purchased by wealthy leftists, and where do wealthy leftists largely live? Well, along the coasts, and all the sand and saltwater air that comes with living near the ocean, which means rust, and rust means holes in car metal.

Now, wealthy leftists don’t have a problem forking over $15k in car repairs, but when a hole in the battery means a great risk of thermal runaway, it’s still a safety concern.

Yet, how many of the Teslas that people are now buying from Hertz came from coast-state rental locations? I suspect a good amount—California leads E.V. registration by far, and it would make sense that leftist metro locations would be the sites that kept the most Teslas on hand. I can’t imagine Hertz would have kept their E.V. stock in the flyover states—people don’t have the money for E.V. rentals, and the charging infrastructure is basically nonexistent.

Take a look at this item, from San Diego just yesterday:

Firefighters made quick work Wednesday of a fire that engulfed several vehicles and damaged a structure at a Kearny Mesa car-sales lot.

…

SDFD officials said an electric car was in a service bay when it burst into flames for unknown reasons.

Several workers used fire extinguishers to try to put out the fire, but the flames continued to grow.

As the blaze burned into the service bay and another vehicle, SDFD crews arrived and put water and foam on the fire.

E.V. battery fires are inextinguishable—first responders just keep it as cool as possible until it “extinguishes” itself. Then you hope it doesn’t reignite, but you can’t know, because you don’t know how much has burned, so post-fire E.V. vehicles must be kept separated at scrap yards in the event they spontaneously combust again. And of course, unlike gas cars, burning lithium batteries release highly toxic fumes, which makes exposure to a burning E.V. a serious health concern.

E.V.s aren’t just nightmares for the owners, but everyone else too! Can we let the market kill this product yet or what?

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2024/05/hertz_s_used_evs_prove_to_be_glitchy_damaged_nightmares_for_new_owners.html