In October 2021, online posts and news reports claimed that Hertz, one of the world's leading car rental companies, had announced a major investment in electric cars by ordering 100,000 Tesla vehicles.
For example, one popular post on Reddit stated "Hertz orders 100,000 Teslas in deal reportedly worth $4.2 billion." That post included a link to an Oct. 25 article on the technology news website The Verge, which itself reported that:
Rental car company Hertz has ordered 100,000 Teslas as part of an ambitious plan to electrify its fleet. A first tranche of Tesla’s Model 3 sedans will be available to rent from Hertz in major US and European markets from early November...
Those accounts were accurate.
In a news release published on Oct. 25, Hertz announced what it described as "the largest [electric vehicle] rental fleet in North America and one of the largest in the world," which would consist of "an initial order of 100,000 Teslas by the end of 2022 and new [electric vehicle] charging infrastructure across the company's global operations."
The announcement can be read in full here, here and here.
The company, which has its headquarters in Estero, Florida, specified that it would be adding 3,000 chargers across the United States and Europe, and the electric vehicle page of its website noted that the Tesla Model 3 vehicles would become available for rental beginning on Nov. 7, 2021. According to Hertz, the 100,000 new Teslas would bring the electric vehicle portion of its total rental fleet to 20%.
The claim that the deal between Hertz and Tesla was worth around $4.2 billion could not be verified yet, but was attributed to unnamed sources in an Oct. 25 report by Bloomberg.