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Hertz and GM team up to put 175,000 rental EVs on the road

Hertz and General Motors have announced a significant partnership that will send up to 175,000 electric vehicles into rental fleets across the country. The deal will unfold over the next five years and include vehicles from all GM brands.   The partnership will run through 2027. Hertz estimates that the electric fleet can save as many as 8 billion gasoline-powered miles, removing 1.8 million metric tons of carbon dioxide-equivalent emissions from the air. Hertz says it will invest in becoming the largest renter of EVs in North America and notes that it already has tens of thousands available at 500 locations in 38 states. By the end of 2024, it plans to electrify a quarter of its fleet. Electric rental cars are a great way for travelers wanting to avoid gas, and they make excellent urban commuter cars. Hertz will also likely save a few dollars by avoiding oil changes and other routine maintenance that gas engines need. However, a hidden societal benefit of this deal may come when Hertz’s EV rental customers begin shopping for new cars. Many people are skeptical of EVs for various reasons, including range, charging, ease of operation, and cost. Giving people a low-risk introduction to EVs and the ability to test-drive one without a pressuring salesperson could drive more people to electrics. At the same time, there's also the risk that renters wanting to take their Hertz-GM EV on a road trip into sparsely populated areas may return with charging and range-related horror stories. Hertz currently doesnÂ’t ask what youÂ’re planning to do with your rental, but it does offer a chat service for questions, and range information is presented clearly on each vehicle. Related video: 2023 Cadillac Lyriq walkaround

Former Fisker CEO has some advice for Tesla Motors

Former Fisker Automotive CEO and ex-Chevrolet Volt vehicle-line director Tony Posawatz has some words of caution for Tesla Motors. The long-time automaker executive questions the California automaker's long-term viability – and gives some praise – in a talk with Benzinga, which you can listen to below. While the all-wheel-drive D that Tesla unveiled earlier this month in Southern California wowed a packed crowd, Posawatz (starting at around minute 4:45 in the interview) says Tesla would've been better off taking the resources it expended toward that Model S upgrade and directed them towards speeding up the development of a more affordable plug-in. Perhaps a number of investors agreed, since the company's stock fell the day after the D was announced. Posawatz says Tesla has been over-reliant on the sale of ZEV credits. Posawatz also says that Tesla has been over-reliant on the sale of zero-emissions vehicle credits in California for its earnings and questions whether the automaker will ever work at a large enough scale to sufficiently drive down costs and make consistent profits. Tesla CEO Elon Musk would take issue with this characterization. Posawatz first made his mark in the plug-in vehicle world when he was the vehicle-line director at General Motors for the Volt extended-range plug-in from 2006 to 2012. Later that year, he joined extended-range plug-in maker Fisker Automotive as its CEO, though quit that job during the summer of 2013 as the company was descending into insolvency. He joined the Electrification Coalition this past March. News Source: Benzinga Green Chevrolet Fisker Tesla Electric PHEV Tony Posawatz

Chevy Bolt interior spied for first time

Chevrolet is continuing work on its Bolt EV, but thanks to some public-road testing in what looks to be somewhere in Michigan, we've captured our first look at the new hatchback's screen-intensive dash. Looking like a blend of the Chevy Sonic with the new Volt, the Bolt's interior follows a simple formula, offering a digital display in place of the traditional instrument cluster alongside a large, prominent display in the center stack. Nothing too shocking, except for the fact that both displays look larger than what's in the Volt. What's most surprising, though, is the shifter. It looks almost BMW-like in appearance. There's a dedicated park button accessible by the driver's thumb, and we're guessing a trigger on the front that can toggle the lever forward into reverse and backwards into drive. The central display, meanwhile, looks like it's running some very different looking software, compared to Chevy's usual MyLink fare. We can't be sure whether this is simply some development software that's free of polish and not intended for production, or a look at a new form of Chevy's connectivity suite. Aside from some different wheels, the exterior of this prototype looks unchanged from the last round of spy photos we captured of the new Bolt. Sorry kids, no new exterior styling to show you today. Still, we've included the entire crop of spy images, covering a variety of exterior angles along with several shots of the interior. Related Video: