High costs for repairs and damage are ruining the joy of electric cars for the US car rental company Hertz. Sixt’s rival announced on Thursday that it would sell 20,000 electric cars and instead add combustion vehicles to its fleet. The company announced on Thursday that expenses for repairs after accidents, particularly for electric cars, were high in the fourth quarter.
“Accordingly, this supports the decision to reduce the electric car fleet.” Hertz estimated the write-offs at about $245 million. In April 2022, the company announced that it would buy up to 65,000 electric cars from Polestar, and a few months earlier it announced the purchase of 100,000 Tesla cars by the end of 2022. Competitor Sixt recently announced that it would no longer rent out Tesla electric cars due to weak resale values and also pointed to higher repair costs.