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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

#781

Post by Dylan16807 »

b112 wrote: post #666
klodolph wrote: post #545

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“It’s a problem” is not the same as “it is impossible.” Likewise, “It’s possible to ship and store H2” is not the same thing as “it’s not a problem to ship and store H2”.

Meanwhile, the presumed "problem" was "preventing adoption", yet my counter point invalidated your statement. H2 is a success. It's stored. It's usable, in consumer driving applications. It's being refueled by consumers, right now, world wide. It's not a problem. At all.

The more of a problem something is, the less it gets used. Showing some use doesn't disprove it being a problem. At all.

And nobody said "preventing" adoption, since that's easy to misinterpret.

It's reducing adoption a lot, compared to what it would be if hydrogen was as easy to store as butane or kerosene.

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

#782

Post by perryg »

namdnay wrote: post #569
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…

I rented a polestar from hertz uk for a summer holiday, it was wonderful. i just let it charge overnight on the mains socket of the cottage, which gave me 200 miles a day, more than enough for a family holiday

Yeah, it’s highly dependent on the country. I rented a car in Norway this past summer. I didn’t even ask for an EV, that’s just what most cars there are. We drove a ton. It was delightful. My vehicle charged up in 30 mins at a fast charger, the chargers were all over, and most charging locations had cafes or fun things to do nearby. I loved it!

In the US, I have a PHEV but when I’m not at home, I don’t even bother to charge it because there are so few chargers, they’re slow, and the ones that exist are often broken.

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

#783

Post by fsckboy »

pbourke wrote: post #518
fsckboy wrote: post #504

Earlier quoted context omitted.

today, i consider email to be a failure, Imagine saying that in 1995. I rarely get them or have a need to send them which amplifies the spam ratio. It annoys me to get and send pdfs in text messages, but that seems to be how the world works now.

> It annoys me to get and send pdfs in text messages, but that seems to be how the world works now. Do you mean PDFs for correspondence such as bills or invoices? That is not common for me.

mostly referring to pdfs to fill out and "e signature", my assistant sends them to me all the time.

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

#784

Post by talldatethrow »

theGnuMe wrote: post #779
Ekaros wrote: post #639

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you really wanted you could order diesel delivered to your home. And then fill your car in your own home. Nothing stops people from installing their own tanks. It is just that it is not needed as filling occasionally is minimal inconvenience. Much less than having to stick cable in your car each time you park it.

I am pretty sure zoning and environmental laws prevent that. A gas can maybe max 3 gallons

I love hacker news. Opinions about storing gas, not even knowing the universal gas can size is 5 gallons in the US.

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

#785

Post by tempestn »

mulmen wrote: post #653
tempestn wrote: post #461

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oy, I wouldn't hold up a 2008 BMW as a paragon of usability. That early iDrive system was awful. Three different ways to differently manage climate temperature? Navigation straight out of the Macbook Wheel[1]? I could go on. The auto wipers were definitely better than the Tesla though. I do largely agree with you re the Tesla, although the steering wheel controls I could argue both sides. They're multi-function, whic…

I have had nothing but good experiences with iDrive in my car. Certainly better than a touch screen. It is a 2010 LCI E90, maybe the iDrive was improved?

Yeah, I believe there was an update for 2009 models that improved the UI. We had a 2008 and it was comically bad.

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

#786

Post by justinclift »

alibarber wrote: post #599
kirse wrote: post #471

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel like rental cars are one of the worst places for the current generation of EVs. This was my recent experience. I was offered an EV car as a rental upgrade in a major city because the local rental place didn't have an EV charger. I figured what the hell because it was a relaxed holiday vacation. Turns out that was a hilariously bad idea. Ended up spending at least 5-6 hours of my week vacation trying to avoid t…

Yeah - I was getting excited about having booked an EV for my Christmas holiday visiting family in the UK (with Hertz). Fortunately researching charging knocked some sense into me and I switched back to a ICE vehicle. - Even though I was staying in their house there was no way I could charge it without buying an expensive cable, or risking some cheap crap from Amazon (blow up the house or the rental car perhaps?) - E…

> at 85p/KWh at public recharging points.

Wow. For rates like that it'd be worth making your own public charger. ;)

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

#787

Post by s0rce »

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…

But it takes less than 10min to get gas near the airport. You can't charge near the airport often due to lack of super chargers and it would take nearly 45min to get 100%

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

#788

Post by lotsoweiners »

Clubber wrote: post #742
light_hue_1 wrote: post #636

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If by "majority" you mean, a small minority, then you're spot on! All you have to do is look at the census. 2/3rds of households have a garage or carport. If you add to this the number of people with private parking, that's like 80+% of people who can have chargers subsidized by the state. It's always important to look at numbers before you get trapped in your bubble.

I have a garage and my car won't fit in it because it's filled with crap.

Haha I have a 3 car garage and can barely fit one in. I admit that it is a problem that technology is unlikely to solve.

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

#789

Post by Dylan16807 »

malfist wrote: post #635
masklinn wrote: post #560

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To me battery swapping makes no sense for consumer cars unless it’s used to significantly increase prices (possibly by removing home charging as well): battery swapping requires a ton more maintenance, space, infrastructure, and logistics, constrains vehicles enormously, and requires a very small number of standard battery formats.

Battery swapping is also not very accessible, not evening can lift 50+ pounds

What are you even talking about?

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

#790

Post by Dylan16807 »

m463 wrote: post #755
xwolfi wrote: post #502

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In France we had this big plan to swap batteries near instantly at the charging station, like we did with horses 300 years ago (but it's an old idea since electrical batteries were used to power vehicles everywhere), and tested it in Israel of all places with Renault... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Better_Place_(company) . Didn't work but maybe that's one idea ? Now if only we could standardize this...

Tesla figured out how to do it and implemented it. Problem is, nobody wanted it. They would rather wait to charge than turn in their personal battery, and later come back for it. Would you want it? Would you turn over your decent, brand new battery at some charging station? What's interesting is that they did it differently with the cybertruck. You can buy an additional battery that I believe is swappable.

Do you have a source for "nobody wanted it"?

From what I can tell they showed it off to get some tax credits, then decided not to deploy it anywhere (but keep the money of course).

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