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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.
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Wow! You are very optimistic about this. I assume you’ll eventually see a $50 “recharge” plus electrical costs marked up 100%. Or of course, you could just pre-pay and sign up for the $50 program and return it “empty”.
Assuming the rental market is at least somewhat comparative I doubt this will happen. When you return a ICE car partially empty someone has to either bring gas to the vehicle or drive the vehicle to a pump. Even though this is probably on-site it is very labor intensive and most rental places are pretty low staff. I could see future EV ones being entirely self service. Anyway an EV can just be charged where you park…
Have you been to a rental car company lately? Most don't give the impression of being flush with cash. In order to get the best charging speed and turn your cars around, do you see them laying out $100K per vehicle/slot?
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 airpo…
When you bring a gas car back empty, you get charged heavily. Wonder how the pricing and will be affected by the juice left in when you return it. And how their scheduling manages it. Also, will “FSD” be enabled or disabled? There’s an interesting liability chain.
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It's way more energy efficient if you can learn to drive with regenerative braking. Otherwise you're just wasting energy as heat with your brake pads.
Coasting is way more efficient than regenerative braking slowing your roll, causing you to need to accelerate again. Hence why many non-car electrified rides disable Regen braking in Eco mode when your not accelerating or braking as keeping that mechanical energy & momentum is much more efficient than paying the conversion penalty to turn it back into electricity.
I have not seen coasting modes to be more efficient than single pedal on my own electric car.
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.
We've given plenty of friends a chance to drive, it takes maybe 30 seconds to explain the drive stalk and park brake. The driving with regen is if anything similar to a dodgem car.
I was very pessimistic about Tesla and confused by their stock price. But I now believe that they indeed are doing it and that we’re finally at the EV revolution. I’m not an early adopter type and the Teslas don’t excite me at all, but I’m really delighted that the market is evolving. I’m delighted that I was wrong.
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In what sense? They’re quite a bit quicker than ICE cars and regeneration is something you need to get used to, but nothing that’s radically different. With these the big issue would be charging them - people might not know not to go to a gas station. Also wonder how the “full tank” policy will work with EVs where ideally you want to hover around 80% Where they might not be suitable rental cars is the reliability. Th…
Someone found Hertz's updated Terms & Conditions. tl;dr you are expected to return the car with at least 10% charge. TESLA These Electric Vehicle Rental Terms (“Rental Terms”) are between The Hertz Corporation (“Hertz” or “us”) and You and apply to a rental of an electric vehicle (“EV”) from Hertz. An EV is defined as a vehicle that exclusively uses battery power rather than gasoline or diesel fuel. These Electric Ve…
Hope they disable some of the Tesla Easter eggs. Having the road diagram turn into a rainbow and Don’t Fear The Reaper blast out of the speakers because you hit an on screen button four times is pretty unnerving if you’re familiar with the car and really wouldn’t be what you want having just got off a long flight and driving in a city you don’t know in a car you don’t know.
christ, I want a cool electric car more and more. but reading stuff like this all the time is just re-enforcing my decision to leave Tesla off that list of potentials. A car is a tool I use to get my family around from point A to B SAFELY. Its also a fairly significant chunk of debt, and I want it to last a long time and behave EXACTLY the way I expect it to. Every day. Tesla really doesn't fit that bill atm
(I have no Tesla investments or products.)
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Try Turo. There tend to be quite a few Teslas there. https://turo.com/
I rented a Tesla on Turo a few years ago, it was a blast to drive. It is so choice. If you have the means, I highly recommend renting one.
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With the new LFP batteries the recommended charge level is always 100%.
The new LFP batteries are still a future thing here in the USA for Tesla.