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Hertz to sell 20k EVs in shift back to gas-powered cars

bloomberg.com

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Re: Hertz to sell 20k EVs in shift back to gas-powered cars

#171

Post by s0rce »

saiya-jin wrote: post #163
s0rce wrote: post #137

I rented a Tesla from Hertz once in Houston and the whole experience was terrible. Got to the counter and the agent first suggested that I take a gas car for $25/day. I was confused because that was so cheap, although the Tesla was already heavily discounted. Apparently, this was $25/day above what I had paid for the model 3 and it was for a compact economy car. I stuck with the Tesla. The agent warned me that repair…

I am not a huge tesla fan but to expect that car rental employees will babysit every customer and show them all the cars in detail is... unrealistic. I was once spending maybe an hour to figure out how to start and move a rental mercedes after picking it up, and next to me was some german guy in exactly same situation with same model. Eventually we managed to figure it out with phones.

I agree, if it was just the issue with showing me the car it would have been excusable, although I'm not sure what would happen to someone less tech-savy, but anyways. It was the combination of issues at every step along the way that made the experience less than stellar.

Re: Hertz to sell 20k EVs in shift back to gas-powered cars

#172

Post by bdcravens »

It may also have to do with the fact that the refreshed Model 3 is now available for order in the US, and the Model Y is probably not too far away. I feel like the used market is about to be flooded with those cars, tanking resale value. (which has already dropped substantially)

Resale value is a big aspect of rental car companies' profitability models.

Re: Hertz to sell 20k EVs in shift back to gas-powered cars

#173

Post by bombcar »

ghaff wrote: post #156
rich_sasha wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IME rental car agreements prohibit taking them "off road" which might include tracks. No idea about US (EDIT not Japan) specifically.

I've never tried to take a rental truly off-road but I've definitely had them on very unpaved roads they probably shouldn't have been on. You can get true off-road vehicles in locales like Death Valley but they're very pricey compared to a standard rental.

Drive it like a rental and don't destroy it, and you get away with murder.

A lot of the "don't do this" rules on a rental are just so they can stick your insurance with the cost if you break it.

In reality, if the damage is very slight and the person checking them in doesn't want to do the paperwork, it's going to slide.

If you do drive off-road in a rental, wash it before returning it.

Re: Hertz to sell 20k EVs in shift back to gas-powered cars

#174

Post by belltaco »

samketchup wrote: post #155
belltaco wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hertz says conventional maintenance is lower cost on EVs compared to similar ICE cars.

Granted they're dumping the fleet with degraded battery packs before doing the 15k+ replacement, sure.

Where does this myth come from? Looks it's about 10% battery degradation after 200K miles. Tesla is rating their batteries for 300K to 500K miles.

Most American company ICE cars are scrapped by then. Not to mention all the ICE related maintenance costs over that time like oil changes, transmission fluid, timing belts, hoses, etc. etc.

You can look at 6 to 10 year Model S cars.

Re: Hertz to sell 20k EVs in shift back to gas-powered cars

#175

Post by saiya-jin »

smileysteve wrote: post #149
legitster wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

SUVs are popular because of the death of car culture. Car enthusiasts still like small sedans with handling and looks and etc. But the average person just wants the biggest, most comfortable car they can get for the money. I had a millenial co-worker ask me why selling a 2-door car was even legal these days.

> But the average person just wants the biggest, most comfortable car They want the biggest, because it makes them feel comfortable, despite objective data and car parts that SUVs are more dangerous and less comfortable. One theory is that millennials have been taught that higher and bigger is better because of age related vision deterioration by their parents and it has now caught on. Anecdotally, I asked this line…

1) bad drivers like being seated high and this helps when overloaded with information; and bad as beginner, constantly bad or just age-related

2) cargo cult culture in literally everything these days, including what some less-than-bright footballer buys for a car (or some famous dev or company uses for building their products), so these 'suv' are seen as luxury, and not garbage dump of companies making real cars (TM) like BMW.

Severe rolling risk, slow reaction times and generally just a bad drive thanx to basic physics, high consumption and overall maintenance... not that great a choice for many

Re: Hertz to sell 20k EVs in shift back to gas-powered cars

#176

Post by pengaru »

aweijrawiej wrote: post #126
ado__dev wrote: post #121

I have had an EV since 2018, love it to death, but would absolutley never rent one. The biggest pain point with EVs imo is charging infrastructure. My personal car, I can charge at home so it becomes a non-issue. But if I'm traveling to a new city that I'm not super familiar with, I do not have any desire to plot out where charging stations are, is the hotel going to have charging, is it going to be operational, etc.…

I charge my Tesla at home and I love it. But I visited family over christmas and driving around in their Rivian I was reminded how absolutely shit non-tesla charging still is. I'm not at all surprised EV sales are dropping when charging is as awful as it is.

Didn't I read in the news that Tesla had opened up its supercharger network to other brands?

Re: Hertz to sell 20k EVs in shift back to gas-powered cars

#177

Post by legitster »

smileysteve wrote: post #149
legitster wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

SUVs are popular because of the death of car culture. Car enthusiasts still like small sedans with handling and looks and etc. But the average person just wants the biggest, most comfortable car they can get for the money. I had a millenial co-worker ask me why selling a 2-door car was even legal these days.

> But the average person just wants the biggest, most comfortable car They want the biggest, because it makes them feel comfortable, despite objective data and car parts that SUVs are more dangerous and less comfortable. One theory is that millennials have been taught that higher and bigger is better because of age related vision deterioration by their parents and it has now caught on. Anecdotally, I asked this line…

Well, the simple truth is that the best, most versatile car on the road is a minivan. But no one wants to admit that so everyone pretends they like SUVs despite being worse in almost every way for daily driving.

Re: Hertz to sell 20k EVs in shift back to gas-powered cars

#178

Post by red-iron-pine »

repiret wrote: post #76
legitster wrote: post #65

Car rental companies regularly rotate through their fleet. I suspect these are cars that are supposed to go up for resell anyway and they are just not replacing them with equivalents. EVs are already not a good fit for rental cars - I don't think travelers on vacation want to figure deal with a charging plan. It's also really hard to sell even a luxury sedan as an upgrade when everyone wants an SUV. I'd be curious to…

The last time I needed to rent a car, I seriously considered renting an EV. I find them more pleasant to drive, my usage could have been accomplished on a single charge, and Hertz doesn’t penalize you for returning a discharged EV like they do for returning a gas car on an empty tank, so it would have saved me having to find a gas station near the airport on my way out of town. But they wanted more than twice as much…

> and Hertz doesn’t penalize you for returning a discharged EV like they do for returning a gas car on an empty tank

bollocks. they absolutely do, and I've been dinged on it before. last time I rent an EV

Re: Hertz to sell 20k EVs in shift back to gas-powered cars

#179

Post by _ea1k »

astanix wrote: post #54
r00fus wrote: post #14

Recently rented an EV (Nissan Leaf) from Enterprise - they were happy to upgrade me from my economy, but one catch - it was at 20% battery. Luckily the hotel we were staying at did have a charger (called ahead) free. Amusingly the rental place told me as we were returning the car that it had been sold in the interim. It's amazing to me how little effort these companies take to resolve the charging questions - there w…

That seems pretty crazy to me they they would offer EVs and not have the ability to charge them on site.

Some have Tesla superchargers, but not necessarily Chademo for a leaf. It would take hours to charge on their L2 and they probably have fewer L2s than EVs.

It is pretty easy for them to fall behind on charging vehicles during peak periods, especially something like the Leaf.

Re: Hertz to sell 20k EVs in shift back to gas-powered cars

#180

Post by kcplate »

orenlindsey wrote: post #94

Apparently the big problem is repair costs. They should buy Cybertrucks, those things are indestructible. One got in a head-on collision recently and didn't even get dented, no one in either car was hurt Edit: this is a joke, by the way

> Edit: this is a joke, by the way

Once again the HN community fails to spot obvious sarcasm. Y’all really need to get out more.

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