Earlier quoted context omitted.
I believe Stellantis is adopting the NACS (aka Tesla Supercharger compatible) plug. That turns this into a more practical car in case of emergency or if you need to make an occasional longer trip. Everyone shops for the edge case - what if I need to drive from Maine to San Diego, or what if I need to buy three rooms worth of drywall? The answer obviously is just rent an ICE for those rarer occasions. But obviously if…
The problem is that oft repeated advice it makes those edge cases so much more painful, to the point where they might just not get done. Like, have you tried renting a Home Depot truck? The last one I rented was barely roadworthy.
The real problem with renting a Hone Depot truck is that the reservations are based on expected availability. You made a reservation and you told them how long you expect to have the truck. But so did the person before you. There is no penalty for being wrong. It’s just an hourly cost and you pay for however long you keep it. Keep it overnight if you want to. Keep it for a few days. If you’ve ever read the fine print (you do read the fine print, right?), it will list a maximum rental charge. If you keep it long enough to hit that mark, they give you the title once you’ve paid the bill!
This is all fantastic once you are in possession of the Home Depot truck. But you can never count on it being there when you want it. Imagine that your local store has three trucks and 3 reservations for 2pm. You can call them up before leaving the house and they’ll tell you there are trucks at the store. You arrive in the parking lot and see a truck parked in the parking lot. You then buy all your stuff and walk over to the rental counter and there’s no truck anymore. One of the other people with the 2pm reservations already took it, and the person with the 1pm reservation isn’t back yet.