Rental car company Hertz Global Holdings plans to order as many as 175,000 GM-produced electric vehicles over the next five years, the latest move by the rental car company to add zero-emission models,media reported.

Hertz and GM unveiled a joint agreement on Sept. 20 that will see the former order electric vehicles from the Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, Cadillac and BrightDrop brands through 2027. Hertz expects to begin taking delivery of the Chevrolet Bolt and Bolt EUV electric vehicles in early 2023.

The multi-billion-dollar, multi-year deal could be the first of multiple GM deals to supply electric vehicles to rental car companies, Steve Carlisle, GM's North American operations chief, said on a conference call. "This is an important first step for us," he said, adding that GM is in talks with other rental car companies for similar deals.

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GM CEO Mary Barra said in a statement that the company's "collaboration with Hertz is a huge step forward in reducing emissions and popularizing electric vehicles, and will help bring thousands of dollars to GM. million new EV customers”.

Hertz is currently targeting a quarter of its fleet to be electrified by the end of 2024. The company said in April that it would buy up to 65,000 electric cars from Swedish electric car maker Polestar over the next five years, and in October 2021, Hertz announced it would buy 100,000 electric cars from Tesla, including Most are Model 3 models. GM and Hertz said the deal between the two companies will "cover a variety of models, including compact and midsize SUVs, as well as pickups and luxury models."

With supply chain issues limiting production, carmakers are no longer inclined to wholesale vehicles to rental car companies at lower margins. Carlisle said GM expects to deliver EVs to Hertz at near-retail margins.

GM aims to increase its North American electric vehicle production capacity to 1 million vehicles a year by 2025. Carlisle said the sale of electric vehicles to Hertz is in line with the company's previously announced goals.

GM expects Hertz to deploy its electric vehicles in Los Angeles and San Francisco. Jeff Nieman, senior vice president at Hertz, said the company is deploying electric vehicles across its entire business network, prioritizing cities such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami and Orlando. Hertz expects its customers will drive more than 8 billion miles in these electric vehicles, which can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by about 3.5 million tons compared to gasoline models.