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

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31–40 of 834 posts

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

#31
post #12

I recently rented a tesla from hertz - I had made sure my hotel had charging in it's parking lot. I arrive at the hotel to find that the tesla was missing it's j1772 adapter, which is what the hotel charger required. I had to hunt down a supercharger and hang out there for an hour. Pretty lame. When I returned the car I complained and was told that there is no guarantee from hertz that the adapter will be included. W…

Sounds like it was your fault for not traveling with your adapter /s

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

#32

Slightly OT, but used Teslas are dirt cheap these days (relatively) thanks to all the fleet sales. You can find a ~3 year old Model S off lease now for under $30k.

Less off topic if you buy those used Tesla's from Hertz for $14K: https://electrek.co/2024/01/10/tesla-model-3-hertz-cheap-use...

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

#33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds like a transformation issue. In the beginning (I assume) before widespread filling station networks getting gas was an issue. Now it's not. That's not a quality of gas vs EV, it's a quality of ubiquity.

It's both -- the ubiquity would make things a lot easier, but you can fill up a car with gas in five minutes.

> you can fill up a car with gas in five minutes.

Yeah, if you spend 4.5 minutes goofing off.

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

#35
post #25

I really enjoy Tesla vehicles, but I had a bad experience renting one from Budget. The cars require a Tesla account with a credit card attached in order to use Super Charging stations, which is managed by Budget and then they add the charging costs on to your bill at the end. Half way through the rental period the card they had attached expired, and I was locked out of using Super Chargers. I spent a long time on the…

Yeah, I remember being really excited about this at announcement. It made perfect sense too, as Tesla does really well on Turo! But the rental companies overshot a bit. They didn't keep their processes and infrastructure up to pace with the number that they brought on. It isn't shocking that caused some issues.

For sure, I thought it was crazy that customer support didn't have access to the Tesla account attached to the vehicle.

This seems like a very basic process that should have been put in place for troubleshooting.

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

#36
Over Christmas I flew to another city and rented a car for week. Hertz had great deals on EVs but not so great for ICE so I specifically avoided hertz and went with Avis instead.

I like EVs and have a charger at home for my own car, but maybe due to that I also understand the difficulty of finding a reliable charging situation in a new place. On top of that I was visiting and parking at my parents house, and they don’t have a charger installed.

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

#37

I recently rented a car from Hertz. I knew I wouldn’t need more than a single full tank of gas for my trip (and if I underestimated I could just stop at a gas station). I wasn’t sure what might happen with the (cheaper!) Tesla. So I opted for the ICE vehicle. (Where could I charge it? The hotel? Do I need to find a super charger? Etc. Just more headache than I wanted on a vacation).

This seems to be an extension of the biggest problem with EVs: The edge cases. Even if the edge case is only 1% of your travel, do you want to buy a car that can't do it? It can be anything . You're living in Minnesota and your dad in Chicago had a heart attack. An ICE can get you there in about ~7 hours. An EV... you're going to need 1 supercharging station at a minimum, probably 2. Or, you just decide you want a ro…

I consider my probable edge case, driving to the capital for example airport there, 160km+something nearly all of it motorway so slightly worse range if I drive at legal limit. So I would like to get there in one go as being 2 hours early anyway is big time sink. And then when I'm coming back I just want to get to home not stop in middle to charge...

Or I might want to do same with some client or relative there.

Train station is very near, but not that near... And it still means connection to get to actual airport...

And new EVs are pretty expensive, compared already paid car...

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

#38
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds like a transformation issue. In the beginning (I assume) before widespread filling station networks getting gas was an issue. Now it's not. That's not a quality of gas vs EV, it's a quality of ubiquity.

There is also the fact that charging takes longer, even with supercharging, right?

Improvement is tightly coupled with ubiquity. As things get better, they improve in a lot of ways.

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

#39
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This seems to be an extension of the biggest problem with EVs: The edge cases. Even if the edge case is only 1% of your travel, do you want to buy a car that can't do it? It can be anything . You're living in Minnesota and your dad in Chicago had a heart attack. An ICE can get you there in about ~7 hours. An EV... you're going to need 1 supercharging station at a minimum, probably 2. Or, you just decide you want a ro…

I consider my probable edge case, driving to the capital for example airport there, 160km+something nearly all of it motorway so slightly worse range if I drive at legal limit. So I would like to get there in one go as being 2 hours early anyway is big time sink. And then when I'm coming back I just want to get to home not stop in middle to charge... Or I might want to do same with some client or relative there. Trai…

> And new EVs are pretty expensive, compared already paid car...

My family has neighbors that just buy and repair older cars and sell them pretty low cost. The quality of their work has been considered very good by third-party mechanics. My parents recently bought a 2005 Pontiac with a V6 from them for about ~$4K with 135K miles. One accident (deer sideswipe), only body.

Do you know what a 2013 Tesla Model S with 135K miles goes for around here? About $17K. If we're lucky, we could maybe negotiate it to $15K-$14K; but that's still almost four times the cost. And sure, the Tesla is eight years newer, but I make a similar comparison because it was very much a 1st-gen product... My money is on the Pontiac lasting longer.

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

#40

Slightly OT, but used Teslas are dirt cheap these days (relatively) thanks to all the fleet sales. You can find a ~3 year old Model S off lease now for under $30k.

Less off topic if you buy those used Tesla's from Hertz for $14K: https://electrek.co/2024/01/10/tesla-model-3-hertz-cheap-use...

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