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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

#701

Post by 0xcafecafe »

yyyfb wrote: post #685

I rented a Tesla on a recent trip lasting a few days, and I feel there are other reasons for which is a bad rental car than charging. I've rented a lot of cars, but when I got this one I spent ten minutes completely dumbfounded trying to get it going. They gave me a key card but I couldn't figure out what to do with it. Swipe it, I guess, but where? I tried the door, but the pillar? Would've never guessed until looki…

That screen is seriously distracting and the worst thing is you have to look at it even to check your speed. There is absolutely 0 information displayed behind the steering wheel. I always wonder how did this get approved.

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

#702

Post by xkbarkar »

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 don't think it's PR. The transition to EV is comparably piss poor to anyone who is using their cars for more than short commutes. We go skiing every year and we drive approx 1200 km to the same spot. This year on the brand new EV with 500km range. Well not so much 500 in -20°C. More like 200. We had to stop every 2.5 hours and charge. And in some places wait in line for maybe 30 minutes in supercharging stations. The trip is usually about 12 hours with regular stops. This year was close to 20. And it was the same during the stay at the cabin, closest supercharger was 35km away and there were only 2.

The EV is a company car and policy bans non EV, not even hybrid are allowed. For a 4 hour trip to a customer in winter cold, if I am lucky, I charge twice. A minimum of 20 minutes per charge. And no wait times on a good day. Waiting 30 minutes to charge for 20 minutes. Well you do the math.

In my old car Id just drive the car on full tank the 4 hours front and back. Maybe 1 short rest stop on the way back. Now with the charge max to 80% hysteria and battery range being non existent in cold weather and endless lines in the charging stations I am starting to hate the EV. I do have a home charger but we do not drive only 20 minutes per day. We live outside the main city and works as consultants.

I am seriously considering changing employer because of this.

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

#703

Post by fkkffdddd »

0xcafecafe wrote: post #701
yyyfb wrote: post #685

I rented a Tesla on a recent trip lasting a few days, and I feel there are other reasons for which is a bad rental car than charging. I've rented a lot of cars, but when I got this one I spent ten minutes completely dumbfounded trying to get it going. They gave me a key card but I couldn't figure out what to do with it. Swipe it, I guess, but where? I tried the door, but the pillar? Would've never guessed until looki…

That screen is seriously distracting and the worst thing is you have to look at it even to check your speed. There is absolutely 0 information displayed behind the steering wheel. I always wonder how did this get approved.

With all the sensors onboard, can they actually go above speed limit?

[edit: never mind. they can, probably]

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

#704

Post by zelon88 »

nox101 wrote: post #408
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 was told I need to return the car charged or I would be billed for "filling it up". I was confused why they couldn't charge at the airport and also explained that if I charge near my hotel it will likely not be 100% when I get to the airport. They couldn't say if that was ok. This is the same with gas cars. It's very frustrating because they're directly being dicks to their customers. You have 3 options 1. Bring…

When you rent a gas car, you don't have to bring it back full. You have to bring it back with as much, if not more fuel than it left with. So if you get it with 1/2 a tank, you can bring it back with 1/2 a tank. They usually give you a chart when they give you the keys that tells you how much fuel it has currently, and how much fuel you would need to add from empty to avoid paying extra fees.

So whether you're in electric or gas, obviously nobody is going to expect 100.0% fuel capacity on return. This is customer arm flailing, being pedantic and dramatic about something that is very clear. "Maybe if I make a bunch of noise they'll treat me special!"

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

#705

Post by loceng »

yyyfb wrote: post #685

I rented a Tesla on a recent trip lasting a few days, and I feel there are other reasons for which is a bad rental car than charging. I've rented a lot of cars, but when I got this one I spent ten minutes completely dumbfounded trying to get it going. They gave me a key card but I couldn't figure out what to do with it. Swipe it, I guess, but where? I tried the door, but the pillar? Would've never guessed until looki…

Sounds like a customer service issue, as a starter. In a long running business where "things just work" - due heavily as you point out to existing standards in product design, I can see the problems you ran into being an area that eventually starts to get overlooked at a large company; or perhaps there were people down the line who were pointing out this problem but no one at senior enough level with decision making power was design-product oriented?

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

#706

Post by vvillena »

twobitshifter wrote: post #700
yyyfb wrote: post #685

I rented a Tesla on a recent trip lasting a few days, and I feel there are other reasons for which is a bad rental car than charging. I've rented a lot of cars, but when I got this one I spent ten minutes completely dumbfounded trying to get it going. They gave me a key card but I couldn't figure out what to do with it. Swipe it, I guess, but where? I tried the door, but the pillar? Would've never guessed until looki…

I couldn’t agree more. Tesla has a major problem of not following the standard interaction design of cars. If you have to Google how to do something on your rental car, the designers have failed. Even opening the back door while inside is unorthodox. There’s not a handle to pull, instead it’s a push button that looks like it’s for the window?

I've been in some Tesla taxis, they usually have to have an arrow sticker pointing at the open button for the door. It's definitely a non-standard car, and while in some cases it can make sense, because the mechanical contraptions behind some of the levers and latches are not a thing anymore, in other cases it's just a way to scream "we're different!" that doesn't help users, or a cost reduction measure.

(Also, the ride quality in the back seats is abysmal)

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

#707

Post by pandaman »

light_hue_1 wrote: post #620
mulmen wrote: post #438

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah but the Tesla implementations of these features still suck. "You get used to it" is a shitty sales pitch. Basically any other car with these features has a better implementation. Tesla does it different but not better . It isn't a matter of familiarity, these designs are just bad . My 15 year old BMW: Has seat memory tied to the key. I don't have to fiddle with a menu to save the setting. It just... remembers. H…

They really don't suck. The Tesla UI is the best I've ever used in why car. They're unfamiliar to you. The seat memory does remember. Not just for the physical key, but for your phone. You do nothing. If my wife gets in the car, it sets up the car for her. If I do, it sets it up for me. Neither of us touch anything, it's automatic depending on where our phones are. The steering buttons aren't labeled for a reason! Be…

>It doesn't need an idrive button. It has voice.

Every car has voice, it just does not work well in the US because street and establishment names are often not real words in English, people don't know how they are pronounced and, even if they do, the car itself has different ideas about pronunciation. iDrive guarantees that you can get to the "Manet st" and not the "Monet st".

>The Tesla does all the things you listed vastly better.

Don't you need to get into menus to change the A/C air direction/temperature/pressure in a Tesla? How is it better than operating a physical dial/lever for example? Especially for the people on the rear seat? Also, the glove box latch is in the menu too, is not it?

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

#708

Post by t3rabytes »

stcredzero wrote: post #410
t3rabytes wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My own experience with having our (now-lease-returned) Model 3 backs up collision repairs being more expensive. I live a major metro that has a single repair shop certified to work on Tesla vehicles. They have a multi-month wait, and they charge more to repair Tesla vehicles than the equivalent luxury vehicle because they can. A newer luxury SUV with an MSRP 2x of our Model 3 had a lower collision premium on our car…

I don't think it works like this, if you get the Tesla insurance. Switching to Tesla insurance indicated to me, that the current premiums are heavily distorted.

Tesla's insurance product wasn't/isn't available in my state (NC), so I can't speak too much to it.

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

#709

Post by thehappypm »

yyyfb wrote: post #699
dcchambers wrote: post #453

Im bullish on EVs but I feel like rental cars are one of the worst places for the current generation of EVs. EVs are best for the types of driving we do on a day-to-day basis. Short commutes in areas we know well. Charge at home over night and 95% of the year you never worry about charging. Renting a car means I'm usually either driving long distances or im somewhere new and I don't know about the local charging infr…

The way you rent cars isn't necessarily the way that other rental car customers rent cars. If you're going on a road trip you don't want an EV. But I rent cars about 12x a year for trips of just a few days with very little mileage, just so I don't have to depend on taxis, and EVs are a great choice for me. I don't usually drive more than 50 miles on those trips, and strongly prefer EVs because I find them to provide…

For low mileage trips, why not Uber or take public transit?

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

#710

Post by wil421 »

0xcafecafe wrote: post #701
yyyfb wrote: post #685

I rented a Tesla on a recent trip lasting a few days, and I feel there are other reasons for which is a bad rental car than charging. I've rented a lot of cars, but when I got this one I spent ten minutes completely dumbfounded trying to get it going. They gave me a key card but I couldn't figure out what to do with it. Swipe it, I guess, but where? I tried the door, but the pillar? Would've never guessed until looki…

That screen is seriously distracting and the worst thing is you have to look at it even to check your speed. There is absolutely 0 information displayed behind the steering wheel. I always wonder how did this get approved.

The speed is within your view in the top right corner of the big screen. It’s not as bad as people make it out to be.

I thought the lack of stalks and a center screen was going to be an issue. Now I feel like it’s overblown and YouTubers/the media need something to complain about.

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