All right, everybody, place your bets.
Resorts World Las Vegas is rolling the dice on electric vehicle rentals.
Enhancing the Rental Experience
The hotel and casino company said it is partnering with EVole Rentals, which offers exclusively offers Teslas (TSLA), to bring the first carbon neutral car rental service to the Strip.
Daily rates start at $199, with the fleet including the Tesla Model 3, Model S, Model Y, Model X and more, EVole said. Basically, you can rent all the four models Tesla currently manufactures.
“Giving visitors the opportunity to conveniently rent a Tesla is a great way to enhance their rental experience and add to our overall efforts to provide guests with sustainable options across the resort," Scott Sibella, president of Resorts World Las Vegas, said in a statement.
And to keep the green theme going, EVolve Rentals is offering a “Rent One, Plant One” guarantee, where, every car rented, a tree will be planted in partnership with the non-profit Eden Reforestation Projects.
Tesla is the top electric vehicle company and its customers have shown incredible devotion as they wait for months for their cars to be delivered.
Of course, having a CEO like Elon Musk, the guy who just bought Twitter (TWTR), doesn't hurt either.
The question is who's going to follow Resorts World's lead?
Other casino operators did not respond to requests for comment, but the news caused some excitement on social media.
"Tesla is like a caged beast about to be unleashed," one commentator on Twitter said. "In the not-too-distant future, batteries and chips will become more abundant. Supply chain issues will fade. Then, extreme manufacturing kicks into gear! Should be glorious to behold."
State of the Air
The clean air issue is important. Las Vegas has struggle with air pollution, with transportation being the top source.
In its latest "State of the Air" report, the American Lung Association gave Clark County, where Las Vegas is located, an F rating for ozone pollution and an F for particle pollution on a 24-hour basis. Particle pollution on an annual basis, however, did get a pass rating.
Nevada Clean Cars, a coalition of business leaders, public health officials and others, recently tweeted that "Nevada’s most populated counties received another F grade from the @LungAssociation’s #StateoftheAir report."
"But, did you know that switching to zero-emission transit buses, school buses, and other #ElectricVehicles can help?" the group said.
The rental car business is coming back to life, after getting hammered by the Covid-19 shutdown.
In the United States, rental car companies received record monthly revenue of $1,320 per vehicle in 2021, Reuters reported, citing Auto Rental News, up from around $1,000 pre-pandemic.
Hertz HTZ, which filed for bankruptcy protection in May 2020, said in October that it was buying 100,000 Teslas, valued at $4.4 billion.
A Critical Shift
Last November Avis Budget Group (CAR) saw its shares jump when the company said it was getting ready to absorb rental vehicles at scale.
Enterprise Holdings has been expanding its electric fleet. The company has partnered with the nonprofit Electrification Coalition to deploy electric rental vehicles in Orlando, Fla., the largest rental car market in the United States, in the Drive Electric Orlando Rental Pilot.
The coalition said the project "affirmed that the rental car industry can be a valuable avenue through which to accelerate consumer acceptance and adoption of EVs."
"Rental car companies operate some of the largest light-duty vehicle fleets in the country, so the electrification of this industry will be critical in the shift to an electric transportation future,” Ben Prochazka, the coalition's executive director, said in a statement.
Among other things, the group found that two-thirds of EV renters surveyed indicated that their experience with Drive Electric Orlando made them more likely to purchase an EV as their next vehicle.
The group called about the rental car industry to be proactive in overcoming certain barriers as it incorporates EVs into its fleets.
Companies need to plan for staff training, onsite charging at rental centers and customer education on EV operation and charging, the group said.
