Hertz EV rentals

[mikehn]

I see that Hertz has some pretty decent rates on EV rentals for next week. For example, 7 days, tesla with taxes and fees $370. It's tempting but Im probably not going to mess with something new during vacation. Im a newbee, one day rentals probably not a big issue, but renting an EV for a week might have some challenges while vacationing. Does anyone have any experiences to share about Hertz EV rentals? Im mostly interested in ease of charging, how long does it take to charge, charging costs, practicality, that sorta thing.

 

[sam_gordon]

I'm glad you've asked the question. Tesla's have been available with Hertz the last number of times I've rented for work. I'll admit, I've been tempted, but chickened out. It turns out my last hotel actually had two EV chargers in the parking lot, but I didn't look to see if they charge.

 

[SkyGuy]

I have never rented one, but I did a chat with Hertz when the Teslas were first introduced to the fleet and asked if there was an option to bring the vehicle back with whatever charge was left - kind of like overpaying for the gas option on a rental and was told that I was required to being it back with a full charge or be fined (didn’t indicate the amt) so that it would be ready for the next renter since Hertz having to charge it would cause a backup in turnaround. That immediately put Teslas out of the running for me. Since they seem to be pushing them now, maybe that rule has changed? I will say that I was at Epcot about 10 days ago and all the EV charging stations were in use; people are supposed to come move their vehicles when they get the charge complete notification, but I don’t know how that could be enforced.

 

[kdonnel]

Hertz goal is to ensure rentals leave with at least 75% charge. In practice that is not always the case. I picked up a Polestar at 20%.

For returns you are asked to return at 75% or whatever charge the car was at when picked up, whichever is lower. So if you picked up at 20% you can return at 20%. If you picked up at 85% you can return at 75%. If you return at the wrong state of charge you get charged $35.

They also have a $35 fee you can prepay that lets you return at anything above 10%. If you return at 70% or greater the $35 is refunded.

There is an extra fee of $25 if you return the car with less than 10% charge.

Level 2 chargers are not easy to come by at Disney. There are only a few and they fill up quickly. I have NEVER been able to get one. They are also not very well maintained. I don't ever plan my trip expecting to charge while at the parks or Disney Springs.

The Magic Kingdom chargers are rated a whopping 1.2 out of 10.

https://www.plugshare.com/location/89486

The other locations with level 2 chargers at the resort are not rated much better.

If you don't already own an EV, renting an EV on a vacation could be overwhelming, in my opinion.

If you rent a Tesla you could probably do all your charging at Tesla Supercharger stations. The charging gets billed back to Hertz and at some point Hertz bills it back to you, could be months before you see the charges billed to you. This would be relatively easy.

If you rent a non Tesla EV you will probably need to download several different apps to DCFC (equivalent of Tesla Supercharging). EV chargers typically don't let you just pay with a credit card but instead require you to use an app and have an account. Even if the charger has a credit card terminal there is a good chance it doesn't work. This would be more difficult than a Tesla.

For level 2 charging Hertz provides a J1772 adapter with each rental. The majority of public level 2 chargers are J1772 with some Tesla destination chargers. Hertz does not supply a Tesla destination charger adapter with non Tesla EV so non Tesla rentals can not use Tesla destination chargers.

I typically drive just 100-200 miles max during a week when renting a car for a Disney trip. In that case I should expect a single DCFC(Tesla Supercharger) session at the end of the trip as my only needed charging.

That session should last about 30-45 minutes to go from 10%-80%. The length of time depends on the power output of the station, weather, and battery temperature. Central Florida should not be a place where the weather and battery temp are limiting factors but it could add 5-10 minutes if unusually cold.

 

[kdonnel]

I will say that I was at Epcot about 10 days ago and all the EV charging stations were in use; people are supposed to come move their vehicles when they get the charge complete notification, but I don’t know how that could be enforced.

They way this should be handled is by charging an idle fee.

If the charging is $0.35 per kWh then once the car is no longer charging provide a 10-30 minute grace period and then start charging $1.00 a minute.

In practice for various reasons not many of the charging networks charge an idle fee which results in chargers being occupied by non charging cars.

 

[kdonnel]

And one last note.

If you do decide to take the leap and try an EV rental, take the time before the trip to watch some YouTube videos.

You will want to watch some videos on how to operate the car and some videos on how charging works.

If renting a non Tesla in Orlando you may want to download the Electrify America, FPL Evolution, Shell Recharge, and EVgo apps.

 

[mikehn]

Thanks for all the helpful info so far. It wont be long till we all need a primer on this. And Im sure all this will evolve over time.

 

[kdonnel]

Thanks for all the helpful info so far. It wont be long till we all need a primer on this. And Im sure all this will evolve over time.

I feel like it will be much easier in just a couple years.

The next round of federal money being handed out now to the states to build more charging infrastructure is only available if the charger to be installed will accept credit cards, an app can be used but not required.

Here is Florida's plan for the new round of Federal money.

https://fdotwww.blob.core.windows.net/sitefinity/docs/default-source/planning/fto/fdotevmp.pdf

Page 33 shows the rough locations of the new stations. There is not a lot planned for Orlando but page 32 shows Orlando already has decent coverage.

 

[matt_in_nh]

Just back from a trip where I rented a Tesla from hertz partly because it was the cheapest option but also because I was interested in checking out a Tesla.

Overall not that impressed for a few reasons. And I will say I did not do my homework ahead of time because I think I am smart and can just figure it out.

1. I got Anne’s station at HS, pulled up and went to plug it in. Needed an adapter that was not in the car. So I had to go to a supercharger that night. I sent the wife and kids to the resort on the bus and went to charge the car. It was straight forward and ended up eating a five guys burger I did not need cause it was there!

2. The key card thing is super annoying. Have to push it against the door to lock and unlock. My Honda is much more slick. I have the key in my pocket and the door just opens and closes.

3. I drove 191 miles. I spent $24 charging. Hmmmm I can my 8 gallons of gas for $24. So doing the math I got the equivalent of about 26 MPGs. That is terrible. After reading on the net I found that teslas superchargers are super expensive. Per kWh. For me the appeal of owning a Tesla would be the reduced cost of fuel. I found that a home charger would be way cheaper but anytime you use public chargers you will pay which defeats the purpose to me.

One and done for me.

 

[kdonnel]

Just back from a trip where I rented a Tesla from hertz partly because it was the cheapest option but also because I was interested in checking out a Tesla.

Overall not that impressed for a few reasons. And I will say I did not do my homework ahead of time because I think I am smart and can just figure it out.

1. I got Anne’s station at HS, pulled up and went to plug it in. Needed an adapter that was not in the car. So I had to go to a supercharger that night. I sent the wife and kids to the resort on the bus and went to charge the car. It was straight forward and ended up eating a five guys burger I did not need cause it was there!

2. The key card thing is super annoying. Have to push it against the door to lock and unlock. My Honda is much more slick. I have the key in my pocket and the door just opens and closes.

3. I drove 191 miles. I spent $24 charging. Hmmmm I can my 8 gallons of gas for $24. So doing the math I got the equivalent of about 26 MPGs. That is terrible. After reading on the net I found that teslas superchargers are super expensive. Per kWh. For me the appeal of owning a Tesla would be the reduced cost of fuel. I found that a home charger would be way cheaper but anytime you use public chargers you will pay which defeats the purpose to me.

One and done for me.

1. If you were at a L2 charger, Tesla is supposed to include a J1772 adapter in the car. Many are stolen by renters and not replaced by Tesla. If you were at a DCFC station, Hertz does not include a CCS1 adapter. Even more of those would be stolen by renters. As an EV owner, I would find charging on vacation extremely annoying. I don't rent EV as a result.

2. An owner would use their phone and not the keycard. They would have a very different experience as the phone would never need to come out of their pocket/purse just like your Honda fob.

3. DCFC is priced close to or in excess of the price of gas. Home charging is generally much cheaper than the local gas price. My per mile cost works out to 2.5 cents per mile. I drive 21000+ miles a year for about $45 a month in electricity costs including the 6 or so DCFC session per year.

The experience of driving a rental EV is not the experience of owning an EV.

 

[reddog21]

The experience of driving a rental EV is not the experience of owning an EV.

This is a million percent true.

Renting an EV is the same as a Disney vacation, doing a litle research goes a long way.

 

[Mle8308]

This is a million percent true.

Renting an EV is the same as a Disney vacation, doing a litle research goes a long way.

100%! This is why it is cheaper, on "paper", to rent an EV. I would never do it on vacation, too risky if you aren't very familiar with the area.

 

[Sykes]

I drive an EV at home, but unless I knew I had reliable and convenient charging available I would only rent an EV if I knew I would not need to recharge it during the course of the rental. Fortunately, Disney trips are pretty much perfect for this--45 miles roundtrip from the airport, plus grocery runs and drives between parks and the resorts stays well within the range of an EV that is dispatched at 75% charge (and I would reject the rental if they tried to give it to me with less than 75%).

 

[matt_in_nh]

1. If you were at a L2 charger, Tesla is supposed to include a J1772 adapter in the car. Many are stolen by renters and not replaced by Tesla. If you were at a DCFC station, Hertz does not include a CCS1 adapter. Even more of those would be stolen by renters. As an EV owner, I would find charging on vacation extremely annoying. I don't rent EV as a result.

2. An owner would use their phone and not the keycard. They would have a very different experience as the phone would never need to come out of their pocket/purse just like your Honda fob.

3. DCFC is priced close to or in excess of the price of gas. Home charging is generally much cheaper than the local gas price. My per mile cost works out to 2.5 cents per mile. I drive 21000+ miles a year for about $45 a month in electricity costs including the 6 or so DCFC session per year.

The experience of driving a rental EV is not the experience of owning an EV.

I get what you are saying, I am not against EV and like I said I did not do any homework I should have ahead of time. There are lots of nuances about any car you learn about if you own it. I understand charging cost is less at home but I was surprised how much it was. Maybe I should not have been. My Honda Accord Hybrid gets 48MPG which is way better than what I paid. It did not ruin my vacation or anything, I was curious to try it out and I expected to be able to charge at the parks, that part was disappointing. And I would guess someone stole the adapter cause there was not one. I did find the home charger.

 

[_19disnA]

Hertz has announced it is selling off its EV fleet. There are in business to make money and have found demand is low, they aren't popular with renters and have higher maintenance costs. Cars sitting idle don't make them any money.

 

[kdonnel]

Hertz has announced it is selling off its EV fleet. There are in business to make money and have found demand is low, they aren't popular with renters and have higher maintenance costs. Cars sitting idle don't make them any money.

They are selling 1/3 of the fleet. Primarily the cars used for Uber rentals.

The maintenance costs are lower but the collision repair costs are higher, in particular for the Teslas in the fleet.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2024/01/11/hertz-selling-ev-fleet/72194050007/

 

[keishashadow]

They are selling 1/3 of the fleet. Primarily the cars used for Uber rentals.

It’s obvious they are cutting back on them.

Over the past few months have noticed few options for selecting EVs other than the “blind” category wherein you don’t know which type of vehicle or whether gas or electric.

 

[kdonnel]

It’s obvious they are cutting back on them.

Over the past few months have noticed few options for selecting EVs other than the “blind” category wherein you don’t know which type of vehicle or whether gas or electric.

They are cutting back but it is not simply because EVs are unwanted.

They were due to go either way. Rental cars only stay in the fleet for 2-3 years max. For now Hertz remains committed to buying EV from GM and Polestar/Volvo.

They did find that the Tesla did not work out as hoped. There has been a rapid rise and fall in value of Tesla EV during the period of time Hertz owned them and the impact to the resale value of the cars owned by Hertz has been dramatic. I don't blame them for not replacing them if their data shows that the collision repair costs are higher and that the resale value is lower.

I have said it before, renting an EV is a horrible way to be exposed to an EV for the first time.

 

[tony67]

https://www.foxbusiness.com/lifestyle/hertz-ceo-stephen-scherr-resigns-ev-push-goes-bust

Hertz CEO Stephen Scherr resigns after EV push goes bust

Not sure that really why, but passing it on anyway

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