The story around here is that not many shops want to repair EVs, perhaps due to legally required precautions. I see these at a nearby dealer repair shop. The car has to be literally fenced off with barriers and signs. Maybe this is OTT but I am told they have ~700V DC and that is certainly not gonna do you any good if you touch it with both hands 
And rental cars probably get a lot more damage, even if mostly minor.
This translates to paying more for insurance.
Re Hertz, I am not surprised EVs were a bad fit for their business. They probably got into EVs to get green credentials, despite warnings, but let’s face it, you aren’t going to rent a car to drive 20km. Most usage is long drives, which exposes the customers to all the charging hassle, and exactly none of them will be charging at home. And if you rent an EV you are unfamiliar with the various public charging point / app issues (posted about here already – I have no personal experience).
I’ve prewired my house for 3 phase, 100A per phase, but it will cost 5k+ to get it connected.
I am not surprised that the rental market does not work for EV’s.
My local dealer has one of them as a replacement vehicle if yours is in service and I have repeatedly asked if I can use it, which they do with pleasure. But they say that most of the time it is standing around because drivers of their hybrids don’t want it, despite the fact that the interface is the same.
In a lot of cases it’s a question of what people don’t know they won’t have. Also, in all the time I’ve been on the road with this thing, I never had to charge it.
So I reckon the case with Hertz and others may well be that only people who drive EV’s as their normal cars will be willing to rent them and if something goes bad it is comparatively expensive to fix in comparison.
Nobody who knows about EVs is going to rent an EV unless they have a plan on where to charge it.
This is not a problem with normal cars because petrol stations are everywhere so no “plan” is needed. And you start with a full tank (500-1000km?) so in many cases will not need to fill up anyway, perhaps only when you return it. I rent cars in Greece and that is always how it works out.
I reckon Hertz had big problems with customers who thought an EV is a great idea but who never did any research on it. Like my neighbours who bought one, with a “plan” being charging it at a nearby pub car park which didn’t work out because of vandalism, etc. That sort of thing is going to drive the rental co. up the wall – all the stranded cars to deal with. It seems clear that most drivers have no idea of what is involved, and don’t acquire any idea until after they bought one.
Peter wrote:
The story around here is that not many shops want to repair EVs, perhaps due to legally required precautions. I see these at a nearby dealer repair shop. The car has to be literally fenced off with barriers and signs. Maybe this is OTT but I am told they have ~700V DC and that is certainly not gonna do you any good if you touch it with both hands
Well, maybe that’s because the relative number of EVs in the UK is small?
A friend here had a minor rear bumper issue with his Model S, somebody bumped him from behind. It cost $12K to fix, only a few (expensive) body shops are “Tesla Certified”, the parts are only available from Tesla (no aftermarket parts network exists) and Tesla will only sell OEM parts to “certified” collaborators in its scheme to restrain trade. Like Garmin with avionics, Apple and other ‘modern’ businesses who run very close to breaking the law in manipulating their buyers. The whole manufacturer controlled ‘network’ scheme that’s an intrinsic part of the design is unattractive to somebody who appreciates the efficiency of an open market, and something I’ll avoid with an expensive consumer durable that involves years of commitment before moving on.
In spite of the above and the associated insurance cost my friend just bought another Model S (he now has two), which goes to show how marketing can be effective over common sense. The draw of the second one was discounts that are being applied to all EVs in the US right now, to get inventory under control. At least market forces and value had some role in his decision and at least he kept a third gasoline car for out of town trips.
It’s hilarious watching his charging gymnastics, he doesn’t charge them at home due to some promotional program that motivates him to use the Tesla charging network so any trip starts with planning his stops and at least twice when we’ve met them for dinner I’ve later learned their trip home was punctuated by a short 10 PM stop somewhere they don’t want to go, to make sure they arrived. Weekends are particularly tough because otherwise he can grab enough company and taxpayer funded charge at work to make it home and back to work again.
Peter wrote:
Nobody who knows about EVs is going to rent an EV unless they have a plan on where to charge it.
I often rent cars through work when going odd places. I have never rented an EV yet, but my wife has No problems at all. But about that plan to charge. Last summer we (my wife and I) rented a car in Iceland, a small jeep to cruise across Sprengisandur, across rivers and stuff. Incredible driving trip actually, in an out of this world landscape. The car had to be filled with gasoline, just a normal engine, and in that desolate place we actually had to make a “plan” where to fill gasoline Well, a simple plan, but a plan nonetheless.
Anyway a plan to fill fuel or to charge for that matter, is not actually a foreign activity for a GA pilot in Europe
Peter wrote:
Nobody who knows about EVs is going to rent an EV unless they have a plan on where to charge it.
again strongly depends where. If you own a EV you likely also are subscribed to several charging distributors. Which means you can simply use your app you use for your own car with the rental too. I’ve played around with one of them, without actually using it as my rental EV was only “mine” for 24 hours, but it showed me at least 20 public charge points within a very short distance from where i live. Clearly, there are places where there aren’t any, but in most central Europe, chargers are everywhere.
LeSving wrote:
Anyway a plan to fill fuel or to charge for that matter, is not actually a foreign activity for a GA pilot in Europe
Or to any driver who wishes to avoid traffic jams or other inconveniences. I’ve been driving with Google Maps for ever and so far it hardly ever let me down, but it does involve planning ahead when negotiating jammed routes. I’ll be driving from home to the lake of Geneva tomorrow and am already looking at the different variants.
One of my older pilot friends keeps reminding me that “A proficient pilot does not even go to the loo without a plan and a backup checklist.”
“A proficient pilot does not even go to the loo without a plan and a backup checklist.”
That isn’t true for every kind of flight, and it would be progress if it didn’t need to be true for almost any kind of flight. Flexibility by design breeds progress, not forced and limited rigidity.
One is not likely to be renting a car in the area where one owns one.
Ultimately we don’t know exactly why Hertz is getting rid of theirs but they are doing it, and some of these are reasonable candidates.
EV is unstoppable in spite of what Hertz does.
High capacity charging stations, properly dimensioned batteries and decreased costs will convince the even sturdiest anti-EV folks some day!
I don’t need public charging but should I, a sum shows me that I could charge about a 100 km range in six minutes. So that’s one quick coffee and a pee. Actually, at my age I am starting to need more time for a pee, so it’s going to be more than 200 km of range. After which I would be ready for another pee.
Oh, and various cars now offer a a power outlet. That should be nice for our freedom and independency loving American friends!
Standing by for yet another barrage of incoming anti-EV arguments
