4 ms·

I never understood why Hertz did this. I'm a huge fan of our own Teslas (yes, we bought a second one), but when we go on trips I never want to rent one. I had t

by mdeeks 2y ago

I never understood why Hertz did this. I'm a huge fan of our own Teslas (yes, we bought a second one), but when we go on trips I never want to rent one. I had the option and considered it for a second, but I just want my vacation to be as close to zero issues as possible. We don't necessarily know where we will end up driving and I don't want to have to worry about finding a charging station. There is slim chance my hotel has a charger, and when they do, they only have a few. At home it makes tons of sense to have a Tesla. I have a charger in my garage and I know my regular commute and where super chargers are. It just doesn't make sense to me to rent an EV right now. Not until chargers are ubiquitous. Maybe for short business trips where you know you'll be in an area that has lots of chargers?

buffington 2y ago
With the super charger network in the United States, renting a Tesla isn't all that bad of an idea. I've taken very long trips in my Model 3, with a lot of unplanned wandering, so I know it's possible. That's not to say it's the same as when you're doing that sort of thing in an ICE. More options for refueling means less stress when you're dealing with unknowns. But road tripping isn't bad either - at least with a very minimal amount of planning. On my most recent one trip, we could still make room for spontaneity. It just changed when and where it happened. We'd start the drive by first finding a super charger that was about as far as we wanted to go that day, then explore the map for routes that seemed interesting and had chargers along the way, making sure to arrive with about 20-25% charge each time. Worked great, and we were able to explore and not feel "trapped" by the route or anything. The closest call we had was when we arrived with about 5% charge once, and that was due to a headwind and elevation gain we hadn't anticipated. Come to think of it, I once ran out of gas on a road trip for not doing this exact same sort of exercise. I had assumed there'd be services along the leg we picked, and we actually ran out of gas about 10 miles away from the nearest gas station. I had to hitch hike in blasting cold wind for about 2 miles, then pay the gas station employee's brother to drive me back to my car. For 10 miles, all that guy could talk about was "women with fat butts." I haven't thought about that experience for 2 decades probably, so, thanks? I guess.

by mdeeks 2y ago

buffington 2y ago

With the super charger network in the United States, renting a Tesla isn't all that bad of an idea. I've taken very long trips in my Model 3, with a lot of unplanned wandering, so I know it's possible. That's not to say it's the same as when you're doing that sort of thing in an ICE. More options for refueling means less stress when you're dealing with unknowns. But road tripping isn't bad either - at least with a very minimal amount of planning. On my most recent one trip, we could still make room for spontaneity. It just changed when and where it happened. We'd start the drive by first finding a super charger that was about as far as we wanted to go that day, then explore the map for routes that seemed interesting and had chargers along the way, making sure to arrive with about 20-25% charge each time. Worked great, and we were able to explore and not feel "trapped" by the route or anything. The closest call we had was when we arrived with about 5% charge once, and that was due to a headwind and elevation gain we hadn't anticipated. Come to think of it, I once ran out of gas on a road trip for not doing this exact same sort of exercise. I had assumed there'd be services along the leg we picked, and we actually ran out of gas about 10 miles away from the nearest gas station. I had to hitch hike in blasting cold wind for about 2 miles, then pay the gas station employee's brother to drive me back to my car. For 10 miles, all that guy could talk about was "women with fat butts." I haven't thought about that experience for 2 decades probably, so, thanks? I guess.