flew across country on short notice for the funeral, arriving at Los Angeles at midnight. The car rental company said they don't have the car he reserved for him

They need to make a remake of the film, "Planes, Trains and Automobiles" using an EV.

 

If only we still had John Candy....

 

I think the key is for the rental people to fully inform customers of the nuances of EVs. The Hertz woman was helpful last week, and she wanted to make sure I knew the drill. She also gave me a business sized card with a QR code, which when scanned would show charging locations. Hertz is also planning on offering discounts at some charge station providers.

Customers need to take some responsibility too, and inform themselves. EVs are the future. I understand the situation you layed out was a difficult and tragic one though. It's too bad they didn't have any gasmobiles at the time.

I hope Hertz keeps renting EVs. So far they've been cheaper to rent than even the cheapest gasmobile too. I'll keep giving them our business, and will take the EV every time possible.

 

If EV rentals could be held only for those who request them, that would work. But in these days where companies focus on efficiency and having nothing extra left over, I don't see a way to make that work.

 

Hmmm… arrived at LAX? In the top 5 for busiest airport in the states. There are quite a large number of car rental agencies there. And ones that are open 24/7.

And the only car he could find was a Bolt?

 

A guy we know, who's on the take

 

It seems to me that the problem here is the rental company knows how to take the reservation, but doesn’t know how to keep the reservation

 

That was a funny Seinfeld episode.

 

But it emphasizes to me that EVs are not a good choice for rental companies, even if this case is extreme. A vacation or a business trip is not the time for a non-EV owner to learn the ropes, and of course also in a city they may not know well, even in a part of the country with better charging infrastructure. They aren't good for the rental company either. Given how common it is now for rental companies to run out of cars, cases like this probably aren't that rare.

That's decent feedback for rental car companies to act on. But for drivers, the feedback is that everyone needs to start learning about EVs. Better to learn on your own terms before this kind of thing happens to you.

 

Even as a 7 year EV owner, if I'm on vacation in an unknown or semi unknown area I'm renting an ICE unless the EV is significantly discounted. Without home charging I'm wasting my vacation time searching for and sitting at chargers. And at pay public chargers I'm paying more $/mile than I would be in my normal economy rate ICE rental.

I think, except for novelty, the business case for EV rentals is poor. And, after the 1st EV rental, many drivers will not be as excited about a 2nd.

 

Last I checked this, Avis would charge a flat $35 if you returned the EV with at least 10% state of charge. That's the way to go.

If you insist on operating an EV in the exact same way as a ICE vehicle, you become a RealAmerican punchline. Lean into the difference.

 

The story is a guy I know, not some internet report. His high school buddy, 70 years old, died.

His HS buddy was 70 yo, so he's.... also 70 yo? I know I'm stereotyping, but older folks are not known for their adaptability to new and unknown technology. He should be mad at the rental company for not having his reserved car, not mad at new tech that he's got no experience with or desire to adapt to. His decision to accept the Bolt (rather than go to the next rental agency) was a bad choice on his part. You're right, a trip like this is not the time to try an EV for the 1st time. The added complication that it was an extended drive certainly didn't help, and he would've been fine if the funeral was closer to LA (San Fernando Valley, or Orange County, for example). Had that been the case, he'd be singing their praises rather than cursing their existence.

My last rental (at Thanksgiving, from Hertz) I had reserved a compact car for its fuel efficiency over a 1300 mile trip. When I got there, they "upgraded" me to a crossover SUV (CUV). Out of a dozen cars, all they had on the lot was CUVs (5) and EVs (7). When I asked why they had so many EVs, the guy said they rent them to Uber and Lyft drivers all the time. Okay, I guess that makes sense, but I was still mad at Hertz for not having the car I reserved. (The next closest Hertz are about 20 miles away, both North and South of me; too far for me to rent from, but not too far for Hertz to have the correct reserved vehicle delivered.) The CUV cost me almost $100 extra just in gas, but I'm not going to bash CUVs for their inefficiency; it's just how they are.

 

His HS buddy was 70 yo, so he's.... also 70 yo? I know I'm stereotyping, but older folks are not known for their adaptability to new and unknown technology. .

What was he thinking? He's in town for a lamentable, sad situation in a part of the world that he may or may not be familiar with; also, probably, time-constrained and, hey, let's try out one of those newfangled, ev's that are all the rage.
Sorry sir, we're all out of ev's, but we do have one Gravity Industries Jet Suit for you.
It's midnight and I'm tired so, ok, I'll take it.
Ummm, does it come with a helmet?

 

With a few tweaks to the story , I see a plot line for the next EV-il Dead movie.🥸

 

I bought an EV because I had such a great experience renting a Polestar at LAX! I picked the cheapest "give me any car option" I expected a Spark or a Versa. They gave me a new Polestar 2 I loved driving that car. I still want one but my wife's car was causing doubts and we bought a Bolt. I Like the Bolt a lot but I loved the Polestar!

 

This is the flip-side of the bad EV rental story. Historically, rentals were a way for manufacturers to get potential customers into their vehicles, and the EV rental is no different.

Yeah, there are going to be bad experiences like the thread starter here but, hopefully, there will be more positive stories like this one where someone got a taste of EV-life via rental, liked it, and made the decision that their next vehicle would an EV because of it.

 

What's frustrating to me is that I always seem to stump the tech support people on the rare times I really do need help. About 3 years ago, it took Apple 2 weeks to get my iCloud drive to work right. It reported tons of free space but every time I tried to save a file to it, it said it was full. They had to re-engineer something and gave me a really nice portable hard drive as an apology for taking so long. 😎

 

People need a little information, heard of someone who rented an EV, didn't understand one pedal driving was very frustrated about it and panic prematurely about range.

It would be mean to let EV hater to say that no one else has a problem with it it must be him.

 

I live in Ohio and have a Bolt, went to N Carolina by train and needed a rental. Thrifty had a newer Bolt and it was fantastic. Only problem with rental company...they had slow chargers and it was low so I had to charge as soon as I picked it up. Thank you Jesus, a free fast charger was located at Nissan, not too far from airport where I picked up the rental. It was a nice trip to the beach.