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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

#791

Post by latentcall »

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 am planning on buying an EV for in town driving and keep my gas car and truck for long trips. I frequently drive through Western Nebraska and I don’t think I’ve ever seen one EV out driving around.

When the infrastructure is there and reliable, and range is consistent with gas vehicles, I’ll make a full switch.

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

#792

Post by Dylan16807 »

kjkjadksj wrote: post #752
HDThoreaun wrote: post #748

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Vast majority of Americans have a garage. You can charge on a normal outlet but it's easy enough to bring an electrician in to upgrade to 240v.

4 in 10 americans can’t come up with $400 without taking on debt. They aren’t bringing in electricians unless they are rich.

That stat isn't true.

The question in the survey is whether they "would cover a hypothetical $400 emergency expense exclusively using cash or its equivalent".

Got $10k in highly liquid stocks and you'd sell some? Or you have plenty of money in your savings account but you use credit cards for all purchases? Then you get counted as "can't come up with $400".

It's useful to look at how the number changes over time, but trying to interpret the raw percentage is prone to misstep.

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

#793

Post by Dylan16807 »

jtriangle wrote: post #447
rootusrootus wrote: post #310

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd be reluctant to rent an EV at this point. But I own one, and I for sure won't ever being going back to gas. I can't see myself giving up the convenience, or paying $50 every week to fill it up. And only at special locations that stock gasoline. That's a hard sell.

Good on you, you're an early adopter of electric personal transport tech. We need people like you to tough it out until the R&D dollars yield something that's actually at feature parity with what already exists currently.

Does "parity" mean "equal or better in every possible way"?

Because overall, if you ignore old and new and just analyze both on their merits, I'd say we have rough parity already.

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

#794

Post by Dylan16807 »

tredre3 wrote: post #426
pmontra wrote: post #346

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They are also probably unaccustomed to the car's behavior when you lift the gas pedal completely It's been at least 4 years since I drove an EV so I don't remember what they do. I expect the car to slow down and eventually come to a halt. I remember that I wasn't surprised by anything in particular so it's probably what it did. What do Teslas do?

> What do Teslas do? Teslas do aggressive regen braking when you lift your foot. And it's not possible to disable that behavior, unlike other EVs. So-called single pedal driving isn't very familiar to most drivers, making it unsuitable for rentals where users would prefer not having a learning curve. Also if you ask the community how to disable regen braking you'll be told that you're driving it wrong, see: https://w…

Does that actually disable regenerative braking? If so, that's definitely driving it wrong, though it would be Tesla's fault for not having a brake pedal regen option.

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

#795

Post by Dylan16807 »

throwaway15858 wrote: post #378
rootusrootus wrote: post #311

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Where does this myth come from? Politics.

The problem is the degradation is fastest when it's brand new.

Problem how? That sounds like the opposite of a problem to me. Everyone is used to a car massively dropping in value immediately after purchase. If the battery drops right away and then that slows down a lot, you won't need a replacement for a very long time.

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

#797

Post by foofie »

rdtsc wrote: post #564
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…

> Not a knock on EV's really, mostly the charging infrastructure and the rental experience. But why not knock on them? They had a lot of promise and a lot of hype when they were being touted as simpler and cheaper and just overall better. Somehow they ended up being more expensive, unless we're talking about Chinese brands, more costly to insure, a longer time to charge than a corresponding IC car and incompatible ch…

> But why not knock on them? They had a lot of promise and a lot of hype when they were being touted as simpler and cheaper and just overall better. Somehow they ended up being more expensive, (...)

I don't think EVs were ever sold as cheaper or overall better. I recall they were marketed as cheaper to run on short commutes, but at the expense of having a large upfront price, having shorter autonomies, and requiring relatively high logistics and route planning.

There's also the environmental and geopolitical angle, but it was always clear that potential customers were expected to pay a premium for that privilege. In fact, many countries even put together hefty subsidy programs to make EVs more competitive.

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

#798

Post by foofie »

starbugs wrote: post #605
Sebb767 wrote: post #603

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From your link: > The anti-subsidy investigation covers battery-powered cars from China, so also includes non-Chinese brands made there, such as Tesla (TSLA.O), Renault (RENA.PA) and BMW (BMWG.DE). It is also unusual in that it is brought by the European Commission itself, rather than in response to an industry complaint. This does seem like more of a political play rather than China actually trying to flood western…

> This does seem like more of a political play Agreed. That's why I added "At least that's what the EU says." The EU is clearly whining because the Chinese local market imploded, so they are now exporting more of their cars into the EU markets. Yet, articles like the linked one make it unclear to me what part of EV production is really subsidized and what part is not. I think it would be advisable to be cautious abou…

> The EU is clearly whining because the Chinese local market imploded, so they are now exporting more of their cars into the EU markets.

I think it's disingenuous to downplay EU's response as "whining". The automotive industry is a strategic sector, not only in terms of economy but also directly and indirectly in defense. Shifting demand from the internal market to the output of a rival and potential threat means spending their own cash financing a rival to place it in a controlling position.

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

#799

Post by foofie »

moffkalast wrote: post #643
light_hue_1 wrote: post #614

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you have a Tesla the charging story is wonderful. The car finds chargers on it's own. It shows you exactly what's available at each charger. Hardly anything is ever broken. EVs are far easier and more convenient than gas cars. It's the non Tesla infrastructure that just sucks.

Now if only there was an EV that combined tesla's charging infrastructure with an actual quality car at a reasonable price, that would be great.

The European Union created their Combined Charging System (CCS) standard and has been enforcing it since around 2014. I think Tesla's charging infrastructure in Europe has been forced to comply with that standard since it's inception as a precondition to apply for subsidies.

The US followed suite and has also forced support for CCS when applying for subsidy programs to grow Tesla's charging network.

https://qz.com/the-white-house-is-trying-to-persuade-tesla-t...

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

#800

Post by masklinn »

forgotusername6 wrote: post #697
tonyedgecombe wrote: post #598

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or hook up a battery in a trailer for the occasional long journey.

This is a good idea. Why carry round all that weight 100% of the time when you can only take it when you need it.

One of the issues with that idea is you need very heavy duty connectors, EVs are hundreds of amps coming out.
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