[MontyCarloHall]

As others have pointed out, attributing the higher profits to lower EV maintenance costs makes no sense, since rental cars are purchased new and sold after 10-20k miles, which is long before any major ICE-related repairs need to be performed. The only ICE-specific maintenance in the first 10-20k miles is 2-3 oil changes, which seems negligible.

I did notice that Hertz charges a flat $35 fee if you return an EV with less than 70% charge, with an additional $25 fee if the battery is below 10% [0]. I wonder if this is a big contributor to the profit margin: people rushing to return an EV rental car may not have time to recharge it to avoid the surcharge, whereas people returning ICE cars have time to refuel them. Also, the surcharge for returning an ICE car without a full tank is much lower; usually around $0.50 per missing gallon.

[0] https://www.hertz.com/blog/electric-vehicles/tesla/model-3/f...

[toomuchtodo]

Wow! That’s obscene considering they have chargers at the lot to recharge the vehicles and the power costs them almost nothing.

The perk should be able to return it on empty, as they can plug them right in at arrival. If Hertz wants to be able to turn the vehicles faster, they can install fast DC chargers at their facilities.

[Fatnino]

Rentals sometimes charge 10 dollars a gallon if you return it below where you got it.

It's not because they then go to a gas station to refill it. They just rent the car to the next customer with only 3/4 of a tank and hope that second customer returns it full.