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I have now rented two electric vehicles this past year, both for semi-long distance trips. The first was a Kia from SF to Sacramento, and back a few days later

I have now rented two electric vehicles this past year, both for semi-long distance trips. The first was a Kia from SF to Sacramento, and back a few days later, thinking this was California and it should be fine. I tried to use twelve stations and seven were broken/out of order for various reasons. I was so shocked about the sad state of affairs on this, I logged/blogged it. The problems were pretty much like the article: 1) Generally out of order message or off for some unknown reason. 2) One had a blatant electrical problem where it charged and then stopped as soon as I walked away. Thinking I was charged, but wasn't. 3) Appear to work, but the payment system was out of order. 4) One was on, but the UI was completely unresponsive. Worker at the business said, "It hasn't been working for almost a year now." 5) App didn't work. Generally, all apps in this space suck bad. Whether it's finding stations or the actual vendor, they are all slow and clunky at best with terrible UIs. The second was a trip from Boston to central Connecticut and back last month. There was a shortage of cars in the city. Logan was out of cars and I had to go to a neighborhood rental on the outskirts. On top of the shortage was Hertz's botched EV initiative, so there was only one Chevy Volt available at 33% charge. This experience was even worse. Again, over half the stations I encountered were broken for the same reasons. On top of that, there was essentially just one supercharging station on I-95 from Central CT to Boston, which I missed. It took me three hours because I had to preserve enough charge to make it back to Logan and take my flight out. By the time I got to the Boston Tunnel, the car went into "limited propulsion mode." I fully expected to die in the tunnel on a Friday evening and miss my flight. The whole thing reminded me that charging stations are complex machines with a myriad of things that can go wrong. On top of that, all these companies are startups who concentrate on growth and marketshare instead of creating an actual reliable usable product. 99% of people can't name one of these companies, and being the best, most trusted charging company is not the goal. I'm not renting an electric vehicle for a long time. The best use case would be within a city, and unless I'm purposely driving all over a city, I might as well just take public transportation or uber.

ukd1 3y ago
Try renting a Tesla next time; the network for charging is great, and I think I've only ever had one failure in years, and just moved stalls.
- snapetom 3y ago
  Thanks but no thanks. Nothing against Teslas, but the issue is that reality is far from the vision proposed by proponents of EVs including governments and entrepreneurs. EVs are not reliable for long journeys. Besides, I don't like vendor lock-in in my software, I don't like vendor lock-in for my cars.
  - veec_cas_tant 3y ago
    > Nothing against Teslas, but the issue is that reality is far from the vision proposed by proponents of EVs including governments and entrepreneurs. EVs are not reliable for long journeys. This really is not the case in my experience. I drive a different EV for personal use, but always Turo a Tesla when flying into a location and doing any significant travel. In every location I’ve been, absolutely zero issues even when traveling 500+ miles between cities. I can see why non-technical people wouldn’t want to do this, but it takes a negligible amount of time to plan a proper route. > Besides, I don't like vendor lock-in in my software, I don't like vendor lock-in for my cars. I don’t even know what this means - Tesla vehicles can charge at any CCS station or level 2 charger (home plug, not DC). Other brands will be rolling out Tesla charger support in early 2024. There is no vendor lock-in.
  - DarmokJalad1701 3y ago
    > Nothing against Teslas, but the issue is that reality is far from the vision proposed by proponents of EVs including governments and entrepreneurs. EVs are not reliable for long journeys. The person you replied to gave you a counter example which you ignore for ... reasons? All of the five issues you cite are basically non-existent for superchargers. As another anecdote, I have made multiple 1000+mile trips using the Supercharger network with zero problems. The experience mirrors that of pretty much every other Tesla owner that I know. Also, what vendor lock in? I can charge my car at any J1772 or CCS charger (if I wanted to), or at home from a 110V or 220V outlet. Tesla's charging system uses the CCS signalling standard, which is part of the reason other manufacturers are now going to use it as well.
    - snapetom 3y ago
sbierwagen 3y ago
>On top of the shortage was Hertz's botched EV initiative, so there was only one Chevy Volt available The Chevy Volt, a plug in hybrid discontinued four years ago, or the Chevy Bolt, an electric vehicle?

ukd1 3y ago

Try renting a Tesla next time; the network for charging is great, and I think I've only ever had one failure in years, and just moved stalls.

snapetom 3y ago
Thanks but no thanks. Nothing against Teslas, but the issue is that reality is far from the vision proposed by proponents of EVs including governments and entrepreneurs. EVs are not reliable for long journeys. Besides, I don't like vendor lock-in in my software, I don't like vendor lock-in for my cars.
- veec_cas_tant 3y ago
  > Nothing against Teslas, but the issue is that reality is far from the vision proposed by proponents of EVs including governments and entrepreneurs. EVs are not reliable for long journeys. This really is not the case in my experience. I drive a different EV for personal use, but always Turo a Tesla when flying into a location and doing any significant travel. In every location I’ve been, absolutely zero issues even when traveling 500+ miles between cities. I can see why non-technical people wouldn’t want to do this, but it takes a negligible amount of time to plan a proper route. > Besides, I don't like vendor lock-in in my software, I don't like vendor lock-in for my cars. I don’t even know what this means - Tesla vehicles can charge at any CCS station or level 2 charger (home plug, not DC). Other brands will be rolling out Tesla charger support in early 2024. There is no vendor lock-in.
- DarmokJalad1701 3y ago
  > Nothing against Teslas, but the issue is that reality is far from the vision proposed by proponents of EVs including governments and entrepreneurs. EVs are not reliable for long journeys. The person you replied to gave you a counter example which you ignore for ... reasons? All of the five issues you cite are basically non-existent for superchargers. As another anecdote, I have made multiple 1000+mile trips using the Supercharger network with zero problems. The experience mirrors that of pretty much every other Tesla owner that I know. Also, what vendor lock in? I can charge my car at any J1772 or CCS charger (if I wanted to), or at home from a 110V or 220V outlet. Tesla's charging system uses the CCS signalling standard, which is part of the reason other manufacturers are now going to use it as well.
  - snapetom 3y ago

sbierwagen 3y ago

>On top of the shortage was Hertz's botched EV initiative, so there was only one Chevy Volt available The Chevy Volt, a plug in hybrid discontinued four years ago, or the Chevy Bolt, an electric vehicle?