Hertz plans to sell an additional 10,000 electric vehicles from its fleet, on top of the 20,000 it announced in January it would sell, Hertz chief operating officer Justin Keppy said on a Thursday earnings call.
The company already has sold about 10,000 of the vehicles and expects to complete the sell-off of the full 30,000 by the end of the year, Keppy added.
Hertz previously cited higher expenses for EVs related to collision and damages as one reason for the sales. As the company continues to reduce its EV fleet, it's "resulting in lower operating costs, specifically with a reduction of transportation costs associated with remote charging," Keppy said, adding that once the EV sell-off is complete, "we anticipate that the remaining EV fleet will be better aligned with attractive demand for EVs with a priority on our rideshare business."
During the quarter, Hertz also closed 125 underperforming locations, Keppy said.
In addition, the company during the first quarter launched new digital tools that enable customers to skip the counter, "reducing wait times and improving customer satisfaction," Keppy said. "We plan to roll this capability out to our top airports prior to peak season."
Hertz Q1 Metrics
Hertz reported first-quarter revenue of nearly $2.1 billion, up 2 percent year over year. It had a net loss of $186 million compared with net income of $196 million a year prior. The company had on average about 529,200 rentable vehicles during the quarter, up 10 percent from Q1 2023. Revenue per day declined 7 percent year over year to $56.68.
The Americas segment revenue for the quarter was up about 1 percent from a year ago to more than $1.7 billion. The number of average rentable vehicles increased 10 percent year over year to nearly 434,000. Revenue per day was down 8 percent to $56.92.
The international segment revenue was $341 million, up 8 percent year over year. The. average number of rentable vehicles was about 95,400, up 6 percent from Q1 2023. Revenue per day was up 1 percent from a year prior to $55.52.
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