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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]So Hertz is going to rent out the Teslas to Uber drivers for $334/week plus fees and taxes, and Uber is going to give drivers $1 extra per ride in an electric vehicle.  So drivers will have to do 350+ drives per week, or an average of 50 a day every day, for the math to work.  Yes, there would be gas savings, but not a huge amount per ride to bring that down meaningfully. Are Uber drivers really driving that much?[/quote]

They wouldn't have to do 50 drives a day. Did you forget the drivers actually make profit for a ride? Probably averaging $4 a ride + $1 EV bonus and 20 rides a day that's $100 a day.

$500 a week if they're only working 5 days and part-time hours or 3 days but overnights heavy on weekends.

D.C. gas right now is $3.13/gallon for unleaded. To fill up a normal 15-gallon tank of a Honda Accord that's $47 with 2 fill-ups a week at $93.

So $334 - saving $93 in gas is a operating cost of $241 a week. A lease on a Honda Accord is $71 a week. Which brings the operating cost of a Tesla via Hertz down to $170/wk.

Now add in the bonus and assume you're making $100/day - you are taking in roughly $400/wk.

If you already HAVE a car, then no I wouldn't be renting a Tesla. But if, big if, Uber makes it possible for riders to request a Uber Tesla - these drivers will be in high demand and doing far more than 20 rides a day / $500 a week.

However one thing I'm not seeing is where these drivers are supposed to go and charge the vehicles. Most people do not have EV chargers in their garage and in D.C. in general parking is at premium so it would be almost impossible to find a parking spot anyway. If they have to drive back to Hertz and sit there for 2 hours as it charges - that's a huge no go.

Here's a D.C. uber drivers blog -

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/544126.page[/quote]

What you're ignoring in your math is that, under your scenario, the person who is already leasing a Honda Accord for $71 a week can earn $80/week for the same number of rides without incurring the additional lease cost of the Tesla.  So the real economics of switching to the Tesla is at extra $263 in lease costs per week, less your estimated $93 in gas per week to bring it down to $170 extra per week to operate a Tesla.  If you're doing 100 drives per week, that's only $100 in extra income from the Tesla incentive, which means drivers would earn $70 less per week by switching to a Tesla rather than keeping their Honda.  Even once they move to the $299/week rate they claim their targeting, that's still a net loss of $35/week.

Your caveat about how you wouldn't rent a Tesla if you already have a car is the real hitch here, because drivers must have at least a 4.7 star rating and need to have logged at least 150 trips to be eligible to lease a Tesla.  So this isn't bringing in new drivers who don't have cars, this is targeting existing Uber drivers who presumably already have access to a car.  If they drive long enough they presumably will need to replace their existing car at some point, but there's no reason to switch to Tesla if there are more cost-effective options out there that mean the drivers put more in the pockets on net.  [/quote]

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