Aussies who want to hire an electric vehicle (EV) for their next weekend road trip or extended holiday will soon be able to drive out of a Hertz Australia location in a Polestar 2 electric car.
Eoin Macneill, Vice President Hertz APAC, commented on the
“Hertz is committed to setting the standard for the future of mobility, electrification, and a digital-first customer experience, by growing our EV fleet while providing the best rental and recharging experience for leisure and business customers around the world”.
“We’re thrilled to partner with Polestar to bring an exciting premium EV to the Australian market, providing customers the opportunity to drive the latest in automotive technology while expanding our range of eco-conscious options within our fleet.”
Samantha Johnson, Head of Polestar Australia, also commented
“As a brand that is committed to accelerating the shift to sustainable mobility, Polestar Australia has welcomed the opportunity to partner with Hertz and enable more Australians to experience electric vehicles.”
“Our partnership with Hertz provides an exciting opportunity for more Australians to experience the thrill of driving an EV while reducing their environmental impact. For many customers, this will be their first experience in an electric vehicle, and we’re proud to be able to share in their e-mobility journey”
I had a chat with Eoin Macneill and Damien Shaw from Hertz Australia last week and found out more about their partnership with Polestar.
Seventy of the vehicles are already bookable in Hertz locations across Australia and the company expects hundreds to be available over the next few months and within 2 years thousands.
In a partnership announced a few months ago Hertz agreed to buy 65,000 Polestar electric cars over 5 years with “availability expected to begin in Spring 2022 in Europe and late 2022 in North America and Australia”.
Hertz will initially order mostly Polestar 2’s, which include the world’s first infotainment system powered by Android Automotive OS with Google built-in including voice control for the premium EV segment.
Interestingly Hertz thinks that being able to rent an EV for an extended period of several hours, days or even weeks will lead to more Aussies getting familiar with electric cars and considering buying one for themselves.
Another consideration for Polestar and Hertz is they’ll be early big players in the Australian 2nd hand car market, which will help increase the number of Aussies who can afford an EV.
At this stage Hertz Australia is working out when they’ll sell their rental EVs but it could be about three years give or take. They made the point that in their experience renting EV’s so far maintenance requirements are much lower and km travelled is less important as EV’s experience less wear and tear while they’re used.
During my briefing I had a look at a parked Polestar 2 and a 10min passenger trip around the Sydney CBD. It’s a very understated vehicle inside and out that results in a premium, uncomplicated experience, a great transition from fossil fuel cars. Don’t worry the Hertz hire fleet Polestar 2’s won’t have yellow Hertz decal stickers.
Hertz is working with Airports across Australia to get EV charging infrastructure installed to ensure they can recharge the growing number of EV’s they’ll be hiring out, this is proving to be an interesting challenge but they’re making good progress.
Polestar 2’s are a premium EV (similar in specification to a Telsla Model 3) so they have a solid claimed range of 474-542km depending on the version.
Charging a Hertz rental EV will be done via Chargefox and Evie, the Hertz app will have all these charging locations and every rental will come with fobs to pay for Chargefox and Evie electricity refuels.
For the first 3 months, these electricity refuels will be free, which is an enticing reason to hire an EV this Spring compared to a petrol car where you’ll have to pay around $2/litre for your usage while the car is hired.
Charging a Polestar is recommended to 90% which is better for the battery and also saves time as getting from 90-100% takes a long time. Charging at a Supercharger takes about 1-1.5 hours from nearly empty.
In a nice plus you don’t need to refuel a Hertz EV before returning it, which you do if you hire a petrol car.
We’re aiming to review the Hertz Polestar 2 rental experience in late October to let readers like yourself know what to expect if you decide to hire one for a roadtrip yourself.
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