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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

#351

Post by 10u152 »

oxfordmale wrote: post #340
ender341341 wrote: post #327

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Other possible reasons - We're in a recession (at least if you aren't upper middle class or above) - Dealers are still acting like there's a supply shortage, so prices are still up but lots are full - Everyone (pretty much) but tesla has commited to migrating to NACS, so if you buy a car now you'll need an adapter, and depending on where you are tesla's chargers are have half the speed if you're using the adapter (li…

Tesla's consistently score low on reliability and are expensive to repair. I would love an EV but place a high weight factor on reliability.

I thought Tesla's were low reliability across ALL vehicles (ICE included) but were the most reliable of all EV's?

I guess it comes down to what "reliable" means. In my opinion if it has a failure but runs, drives, is safe and comfortable it's "reliable". For example I read lots of complaints about squeaks or rattles when music is played. I don't call that "unreliable"

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

#352

Post by thfuran »

thegrim33 wrote: post #223
itsoktocry wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> blame EV's Wait, what? Hertz was basically bankrupt, and suddenly was a "good business" when it bought a bunch of Teslas. It was always a stretch. https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a38052601/hertz-buying-100...

But hey, they hired Tom Brady (who also got paid to shill for FTX) to do their EV-focused commercials. Surely it's a good business when their commercials don't, you know, extol the benefits of their company and products, but instead hire a celebrity in a pretty low-brow disgusting way to try to sell a product: by pandering to the people with "hey, this famous person is in our commercial and for money he says our prod…

Yes, that sounds likely to be good business. The purpose of a commercial isn't to provide a thorough and unbiased technical brief, it's to cause more people to buy a product.

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

#353

Post by TulliusCicero »

fsckboy wrote: post #322

I've been seeing a lot of headlines the last month about demand for EVs falling. Of course, it could just be a PR campaign by Big Fossil, I'm not in a position to judge that. I had another idea about it and I'm wondering what other people think: by buying Twitter/X, Musk has waded deeply into the culture war, and we see on HN plenty of people who just can't stand to see his name. It seems a sizable community, could t…

We just bought an EV (VW ID4) and it's fine, but the charging situation in the US is kinda fucked for road trips. Besides usually taking way longer than filling up gas, making sure there are charging stations on the way is a pain, they might fill up and then you're kinda just screwed (have to wait a long time for people to move), and the UX for these things is atrocious.

Gas filling is dead simple and fast even though I have no 'account', but filling up our EV at an Electrify America station takes considerably longer to start even with an account already present. The UI on the charging station is really clunky and slow, with some extra steps there for apparently no reason.

I've also heard plenty of stories of persistently broken chargers on various networks, only Tesla seems to have their shit together for EV charging.

More range, more charging stations, faster charging, easier charging, more reliable charging, these are all necessary imo.

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

#354

Post by 10u152 »

oxfordmale wrote: post #343
jackmott42 wrote: post #332

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Definitely Teslas became less attractive to a lot of people with Musks behavior in the last year. But also interest rates are up, and EV enthusiast market may be saturated, so now you have to win over just regular people.

I don't like Musk, but I am also under no illusion that CEOs of other major car companies are any better. They may just hide their opinions a little better than Musk. The reality is that Tesla aren't very good cars from both reliability, price and range perspective. Musk has done a brilliant job hyping the car, but reality starts setting in. For example, FSD will likely remain in beta for years.

Agreed. Second most popular EV here in Australia is an MG. Which is a state owned CCP company. Is Musk worse than the CCP/Xi Jinping? Really?

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

#355

Post by evan_ »

fsckboy wrote: post #322

I've been seeing a lot of headlines the last month about demand for EVs falling. Of course, it could just be a PR campaign by Big Fossil, I'm not in a position to judge that. I had another idea about it and I'm wondering what other people think: by buying Twitter/X, Musk has waded deeply into the culture war, and we see on HN plenty of people who just can't stand to see his name. It seems a sizable community, could t…

I was just talking to a friend who was going to buy a Tesla, got turned off by Musk, and bought an ICE SUV instead.

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

#356

Post by fortran77 »

I love electric cars, I currently own two of them, and owned several others before.

That said, I can absolutely understand why a person wouldn't want to rent one: lack of charging at hotels or places you're likely to visit. At home, I know I can charge at home, at the office, and I'm familiar with the supercharger locations. In a strange city, I just don't want to have to worry about it.

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

#357

Post by Scoundreller »

kmeisthax wrote: post #320
CharlieDigital wrote: post #183

Not sure about the economics for the rental companies, but for a consumer, there are practical reasons why electric aren't quite as attractive. When you rent a car, more than likely you will be in unfamiliar territory. So it seems that it just adds to the stress of travel and yet another thing you have to pay attention to. Will my hotel have charging spots? Will I be able to charge at the client site I'm visiting? Ho…

I accidentally booked an electric vehicle a few weeks ago. I was halfway to looking up charging spots on Long Island when the guy at the Hertz counter offered me a Dodge Charger instead. For the record, my hotel did not have charging spots, and the only ones I saw driving around were at the Broadway Commons Mall[0]. All of them looked full. I'm very skeptical of "charging infrastructure" being a prerequisite to subur…

> Said mall also has an Avis/Budget office. No clue if the LIRR lets you carry luggage onboard, but if they do I probably should just take that instead of paying extra to rent at JFK...

protip: lots of rental agencies only charge the premium for airport/train station pickup, but not for dropping off at one. YMMV.

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

#358

Post by lgkk »

fsckboy wrote: post #322

I've been seeing a lot of headlines the last month about demand for EVs falling. Of course, it could just be a PR campaign by Big Fossil, I'm not in a position to judge that. I had another idea about it and I'm wondering what other people think: by buying Twitter/X, Musk has waded deeply into the culture war, and we see on HN plenty of people who just can't stand to see his name. It seems a sizable community, could t…

I used to have a '18 Model 3 Performance (P3D as they were called then) and I sold it after a little less than 3 years.

1. The interior quality was shit. By 10k miles everything was rattling and the quiet nature of the car meant even with bass thumping everything was just annoying af.

2. The car software felt like it got worse. I had bought FSD for $2k back in 2018. I thought it worked fine for that price. As it became more expensive, and pretty much 5x in price, I thought it was a ripoff. Around 2021 it felt like FSD had gotten way worse. More phantom braking, more getting tripped up and literally pulling into another lane for no reason, etc.

3. Going somewhere farther away became a huge PITA. It was fine waiting at a supercharger 20-30 minutes the first like two months. After that it became a hassle and eventually something I would dread. What a collossal waste of time.

I ended up going back to ICE and I probably won't ever get an EV again unless there are substantial improvements or even hot swap battery stations.

Yeah EVs are "cool", but at least for me if I'm being completely honest and not lying to make myself feel better, the allure wore off pretty quick.

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

#359

Post by keyle »

t0mas88 wrote: post #253
1970-01-01 wrote: post #78

This is due to high body damage repair costs and has nothing to do with repairing an electric powertrain: >Let me share a bit more context on the damage equation. First, while conventional maintenance on electric vehicles remained lower relative to comparable ICE vehicles in Q3, higher collision and damage repairs on EVs continue to weigh on our results and negatively impacted EBITDA. For context, collision and damag…

The title says "EVs" but really it's "Teslas" they're not selling their Polestars.

I thought Bloomberg was better than cheap sensationalism.

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

#360

Post by mulmen »

phinnaeus wrote: post #324
afavour wrote: post #295

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. Got a Polestar for a surprisingly cheap price on Hertz recently and I was really impressed with it. If I were in the market I think I’d take it over a Tesla.

Ooof. I own a Model 3 and was really looking forward to my Polestar 2 rental in NZ over the holidays. It felt like a massive downgrade in pretty much every way to me. The biggest thing was the responsiveness, it was on par with a standard ICE vehicle in terms of how sluggish it was. I was incredibly disappointed given that I would love to look elsewhere (from Tesla) for my next vehicle.

I rented a Tesla from Hertz recently. The throttle response was incredible. Everything else about the car was truly awful. Opaque touch UI. Fiddly steering wheel buttons with unclear functionality. Dangerously unpredictable self-driving. Insistent seat memory that constantly tried to crush me on entry. Had to install an app to unlock the car. Really a terrible vehicle.

A friend of mine rented a Kia Nero EV and it was excellent. It’s just a car that happens to be electric. I didn’t even realize it was an EV until the third day.

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