Hertz Corporation

The Hertz Corporation is one of the largest worldwide vehicle rental companies, offering both consumer and corporate rentals.

Hertz is paving the way to make transportation more sustainable and EVs more accessible to consumers. As part of this larger corporate initiative, Hertz has worked with various electric vehicle original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) like Tesla, Polestar, GM, and others to offer electric light-duty passenger vehicles to their rental car customers. As the rental car company deploys its EV fleet, the vehicles will be available at Hertz locations across 20 states. To support the charging of this new EV fleet, Hertz sought an experienced partner to identify, install, and manage infrastructure and software.

The right size for scale

With thousands of EVs already on the road, and many more to come, Hertz was faced with the reality of having rental cars in operation with limited access to onsite charging – making the current process to charge the EVs manual and time-consuming. Hertz needed a partner that could quickly install and manage charging infrastructure customized to support their growing EV fleet.

bp pulse got to work with the rental car company to determine their unique operational needs, beginning with installing charging infrastructure at Hertz airport locations across the country. We started with assessing each site design and procuring the right equipment and construction partners. In addition, we provided project management support, including handling utility engagement, to coordinate delivery timelines for all partners.

Project specs:

• Site design and construction

• Level 2 and DC fast chargers

• Utility and AHJ coordination

Driving customer experience

For many customers, renting through Hertz will be their first experience with an EV, and the company wants to ensure it’s a smooth ride. From reducing customer wait time to monitoring vehicle readiness, there are many factors to consider when managing an EV fleet of this size. This is further complicated with unpredictable charging schedules based on consumer usage.

Installing onsite depot charging is the first step. The next is managing charging operations to ensure each customer vehicle is fully prepared at the start of the rental. Hertz and bp pulse are working on a customised version of our Omega charge management software that will integrate with their entire fleet management system. Hertz will be able to monitor its vehicles and charging equipment to ensure uptime, vehicle readiness, and energy costs—replacing their current process of manually checking and charging vehicles.

Charging specs:

• Customized Omega CMS

• Improved fleet management

• Charging equipment monitoring

Expanding into public charging

Of the EVs Hertz purchased, they plan to deploy a portion of the vehicles for use by ride hail drivers. Electrifying these high-mileage fleets is a priority because these vehicles are driven three times the distance for an average driver. Making charging easier and more cost-effective for drivers can encourage the adoption of EVs among ride hail drivers. To achieve this, bp pulse will partner with Hertz to build several dozen public fast-charging hubs, Gigahubs, at high-demand Hertz-owned locations. Starting with the first location near LAX, this national network of Gigahubs™ will offer reliable and convenient charging open to rideshare, taxi, and the general public.

Gigahub™ specs:

• 14 states with Gigahub™ locations

• First site at Hertz LAX location

• Open to rideshare, taxis and the public