The rental car giant Hertz made headlines late last year after it announced a major deal with GM to purchase roughly 175,000 electric vehicles (EVs).
Now, Hertz is going a step further to help make EVs more accessible by partnering with cities for its new Hertz Electrifies campaign.
Hertz Electrifies will begin by joining forces with the city of Denver, adding at least 5,200 EVs to its rental fleet and installing charging stations in several locations. Many of these charging stations will be strategically located in low-income neighborhoods so that more Denver residents can use EVs in the future.
Besides helping commuters pick up their rides from the Denver International Airport, Hertz will also make the EVs available to rideshare drivers who don't want to use their personal vehicles.
And the campaign will partner with both technical schools and training programs to help young professionals gain employment in the EV sector.
It makes sense that Denver — as well as other cities — would be interested in having more available EVs, which have lower fueling costs and produce less planet-warming air pollution, like carbon.
Denver's mayor, Michael B. Hancock, recently celebrated the new public-private partnership.
"Our goal is to reduce Denver's carbon emissions by 80% by 2050, and expanding the use and availability of electric vehicles will play a major role in helping us achieve that goal," Hancock said in a press release. "We're proud to work with Hertz to ensure that electrification opportunities reach across the city."
It's clear how Denver can benefit from this partnership, but why is Hertz investing so deeply in the EV game? For one, Hertz recently found that maintaining EVs is between 50%-60% cheaper than maintaining gas-powered vehicles.
So, whatever Hertz's motivation, helping more Americans access cleaner and cheaper transportation is definitively a good thing. Hopefully, the Hertz Electrifies campaign will soon expand to more cities so we can all access EVs.
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