I had a similar experience on a recent trip back to my home office. Despite having a reservation, my rental company was out of cars aside from EVs. I knew my home office had chargers on-site, so I figured I'd be OK. The rental company told me I had to bring it back with at least 70% charge, and the range on the car should be 250-300 miles. I get the car, and it only has 73% charge, so I know I'll have to put a lot into it before return. It's roughly 10 miles from the rental lot to my hotel, and 2 miles from my hotel to work. By the time I get to the hotel, get dinner nearby, and go to work the next morning, I'm down to 59%. I plug in the car at the work charger at lunch just to see how long it takes to recharge. After 45 minutes, I was up to 63% (!). I drive the car to a charger closer to my office and decide to leave it in for the afternoon. After another four hours (and ~$8 in charges, as we get charged for using the chargers at work) I'm back up to ~97%. By the time I turn the car in the next day I'm down to 92%.
If it wasn't for the ability to plug the car in for five hours while I was at work, I would have been hosed. Not to mention I only saved a few bucks over my typical gas charge (typically $10-15).
“I had to bring it back with at least 70% charge— I get the car, and it only has 73% charge”
My daughter’s car was only charged 50% when she picked it up and never got it charged to 70% anytime she had it. She didn’t have to pay more when she brought it back after telling them the nightmare week she had.
Leason learned, never rent an EV.