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Hertz orders 100k Teslas

bloomberg.com

71–80 of 516 posts

Re: Hertz orders 100k Teslas

#71
post #21
post #11

How will they overcharge for gas with these?

It's quite simple to figure out, once you understand no electric charging and consumption can happen without the knowledge of the car computer, which is programmed by Tesla, which just received a $5 bilion dolar order from Hertz. Surely they can fit a bit of Hertz-specific "charge monitoring" code in this price tag. In fact, electrics open up a whole world of pricing and customer ripoff models.

You seem to know a lot about customer ripoff models. Are you in the ads business?

Re: Hertz orders 100k Teslas

#72
post #17
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure that should be a problem so long as they are returned . I don't know the exact turn-around times for rental car companies but you can charge a Model 3 to full in 5 hours or so with a 240. Though I think another issue could be wear and tear on the battery as you're not supposed to charge to full - can rental companies software lock the charge rate? Not yet as far as I know.

Wasn't tesla already doing it though? https://electrek.co/2021/05/24/tesla-found-guilty-throttling...

No I mean you can charge your battery to 100% but it degrades the physical battery over time. I think this looks to be a separate issue affecting cars made in 2016.

"Only Model S and Model X vehicles with 85 kWh battery packs, which were discontinued in 2016, seem to be affected at that point."

Re: Hertz orders 100k Teslas

#73
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>My understanding is that Tesla vehicles differ quite a bit from regular ICE vehicles, to the point that there's a bit of a learning curve to operating the car. >I'd be interested to hear from a Tesla owner on this Not a Tesla owner, but I did take one for a 30 minute test drive. There wasn't really any learning curve except for that when you let your foot off the accelerator (gas?) pedal, the regenerative braking ki…

Even then, engine braking isn't exactly a foreign concept in the ICE world. Lots of vehicles have a mode or gear option that enables engine braking.

That's true. Although I own a manual transmission car and it was noticeably more pronounced than the engine braking I experience when downshifting.

Re: Hertz orders 100k Teslas

#74
post #15

I say this having never driven a Tesla, but are they really suitable rental cars? My understanding is that Tesla vehicles differ quite a bit from regular ICE vehicles, to the point that there's a bit of a learning curve to operating the car. I'd be interested to hear from a Tesla owner on this. Maybe it's a non-issue.

My concern with renting one (which for now would stop me from doing it), is the scarcity of charging locations. Not sure how far apart they are in most locations nowadays, or what wait times are like, but if I'm on vacation (which is when I most often rent), then no hassle is worth it. There are gas stations everywhere.

Re: Hertz orders 100k Teslas

#76
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my experience cars with diesel engines and manual transmissions also had the tendency to creep forward instead of stalling while in first gear when neither brake nor accelerator pedal was stepped on.

All cars will creep forward with the first gear on. The thing is, if you're already going faster than 10km/h, they'll decelerate towards that surprisingly quickly.

Not really. On petrol cars, if you let go of the clutch in 1st gear and not pushing on the gas, you'll most likely stall. Diesels often don't do this, and creep instead (all of this assuming you're letting go of the clutch slowly enough, otherwise, you'll stall for sure)

Re: Hertz orders 100k Teslas

#77
Electric cars are actually a very good fit for many rentals. Thinking through my last 5 rentals.

A wedding that was 1 hour from an airport, ~100 miles RT.

A ski trip where I wanted to drive from Denver to my AirBnB near Winter Park Colorado, ~200 miles RT.

A hiking trip where I needed a second car for a point-to-point car shuttle (New Hampshire!), ~120 miles RT.

A bachelor party where I needed to drive from the airport to a trailhead then to an AirBnB then back to airport, ~150 miles RT.

A national park trip to the Grand Canyon, ~500 miles RT.

Each of those scenarios would have been 1 full charge of a Tesla round-trip, with the exception of the Grand Canyon. Maybe not the ski trip since it's mountainous and cold weather kills the battery so 200 miles might be a stretch, but I could have trickle-charged at my AirBnB. So basically I can see how many quick rental car needs are met by EVs, plus no dealing with filling with gas!

Re: Hertz orders 100k Teslas

#78
I've wanted to try a Tesla for a while now with a view to purchase. There's nowhere near me to rent one (Turo isn't available in my state) and I'd gladly rent one from Hertz. This is a move that could do wonders for EV sales. Exposing people, without commitment, to EVs may just quench some lingering doubts re: charging, etc.

Re: Hertz orders 100k Teslas

#80
post #57
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even higher margins with electricity. Instead of charging you $5 a gallon, they can even charge $.50 per kWh (or translate it to miles) and that's something like a 3x markup. Even more if they use a renewable energy source. In my rough calculations, it costs something like $5-$7 to charge from empty to full on my Model-3 mid-range.

My ICE car is $50-$70 to fill the tank (26gal/100l) from empty to full. And gets me 450-500 miles. So I'm a tad bit jealous, just not enough to take on a car payment.

Our second car is an older Beetle and we've kept it around for exactly that reason, it's paid off, and even the occasional repairs needed on it annually are way cheaper than a monthly auto loan payment. When I used to commute (pre-COVID, I'm never, ever going back to that), we still used it.
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