“the vehicle must be fully charged before its returned”
If that is in fact the case, hertz should be run out of business for that stupid policy alone.
Rental vehicles are supposed to be cleaned and vacuumed between rentals, why not charge it then?
Putting the burden of recharge on the customer is asinine to say the least.
Think about the size of the electrical substation that would be required in the rental co’s back lots to get ready for the morning rush.
“the vehicle must be fully charged before its returned”
If that is in fact the case, hertz should be run out of business for that stupid policy alone.
Rental vehicles are supposed to be cleaned and vacuumed between rentals, why not charge it then?
Putting the burden of recharge on the customer is asinine to say the least.”
I have rented Tesla EVs from HERTZ at least 25 times they are my go to car for Houston gridlock traffic , same for Vegas or New Orleans. The automatic vehicle follow feature,hand free lane center, and hand and foot free stop and go.traffic modes beat any tech by any other vehicle.
If you don’t pre pay for a return charge usually ten bucks where you can return the car @10% SOC then you will need to return it at 70% or higher SOC. When you pick up the Tesla it will be at 70%+ SOC they always charge them before renting them out unless you want to take one at a steep discount with a <50% SOC and by steep I mean a free day of use the EVs are already under $20 a day for LLC weekly rates if you hold a valid TIN number for corporate rates.
As for charging while renting a EV a Model S has a 400 mile range rarely while renting in Vegas or Houston do I put more than 200 miles total a rental for the whole week. My hotel or airnnb is usually half a mile or so from where I need to be if its a training or contract trip. The daily trips are food at lunch and dinner plus nightlife. The last trips are usually uber or lyft if I intend to drink while out. Those uber and lyft trips will end up costing more than the whole weeks worth of EV rentals. Uber has a $6 to 8 minimum charge per trip.
On trips where I do exceed 300 miles in a week most American cities are blanketed with chargers especially if you are in a Tesla with its special plug that excludes other EVs from their network. That is changing as adapters have been made in both directions. I bought and had Amazon one day deliver to my hotel in the energy corridor a $16 adapter for CCS/J1772 that’s the other universal standard with that adapter a Tesla can charge at every type of plug and charger network in North America.
https://chargefinder.com/us/search
Open this link then zoom to Houston,Vegas , Dallas,Austin ,LA...set the limit to 50kw or above those are your DC fast chargers then look at all the Red dots those are Tesla chargers, blue and purple are CCS and open to Teslas with that adapter that’s rated for 250kw so V3/4 superchargers too. The major cities are blanketed with chargers.
I have never had an issue charging if the Tesla needed it the tech shows you where Tesla chargers are in your area or path ,let you see how many are open and reserve a spot that won’t allow anyone else to use it until you get there you pay the the minute for reservations and wait time if your Tesla is full and you don’t move it to encourage people to not camp out at spots. Usually a dollar or two a minute above a certain income level a couple of bucks a min is throw away money. Your time is worth multiple hundreds of dollars an hour $60 is pocket change and no one leaves a spot blocked for an hour or more. Ten min at most to reserve a spot and drive up too it is the most I have ever needed to ensure my spot was ready and wanting.
Out of the last 20 rentals I needed a charger less than half of them as my weekly distance was less than what the Tesla had in the pack I always pay the “fuel” fee to return it near empty.
That said I have taken a Model S out.of New Orleans and all the way to Pensacola then back to New Orleans, and on to Houston and home to the DFW area really closer to Oklahoma than Dallas area. That was an 1800 mile trip using Tesla superchargers at 150 or 250kw rates never spent more than 15 min at a SC while I empty my bladder the real limit of driving distance 3 hours or 200 miles and the car stops for my bladder and tummy grumbles.
On the open highway a Tesla can go hands free at a set cruising speed it only slows down for traffic in front and will speed back up again if they yield or you tell it to pass on the right which it can also do hands free. My lawyer and I were in his new model S this last week in the rain at 80 mph hands free on IH35 South bound the wipers turned on by themselves and the car asked if we wanted to slow down by 10mph due to weather conditions it could sense the rain and probably the wheel spin rates for hydroplaning. Impressive tech to say the least.