“”Do rental car companies require you to return an EV fully charged?””
For gasoline car rentals, almost EVERY rental staff have stated that the cost to have the rental company fill up the gas tank is much, much higher than the gas station. Some rental clerks have even told us where the most convenient gas station near the airport is located.
Imagine returning your Tesla rental only half charged. If the rental company installed their own charging station, they would still charge you an arm and a leg.
The time it takes to ‘charge’ the gasoline rental is 5-6 minutes? If you can find an EV charging station near the airport, I believe it would be a little longer than 5-6 minutes. AND, using the fast charging damages the life of the battery. Another reason resale of EV car rentals is, well, crap.
That’s what I figured.
Somebody at Hertz needs their head examined for renting EVs. There’s no telling what problems may crop up as they rent these things. Owning one of them would likely be much worse than renting one. Although, I will admit I’d like to drive one around a test track just once to see what it felt like. That would be plenty enough of an EV experience for me.
EVs ARE CRAP!
Rent a car with 1/2 tank.
They want it returned with 1/2 tank.
That is a real PITA to do that - but I managed (using engineering math and calculations).