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This reminds me of rental car companies deciding they should switch their vehicle fleets to electric. A few months ago, I visited San Jose for a wedding. When
by loudmax 2y ago
This reminds me of rental car companies deciding they should switch their vehicle fleets to electric.
A few months ago, I visited San Jose for a wedding. When I picked up my rental car at the airport, the only options were electric, even though I had specified that I wanted an ICE vehicle tat the time I made the reservation. During the four day trip I wound up visiting five different charging stations (some of which slow charged, so weren't able to replenish the battery in the time available), and I had to install three different apps. I still have like $20 of unused credit between them. I spent several hours waiting for the car to charge, not to mention making major detours looking for a fast-charging station. If I were to guess a part of the world you'd expect to find the best possible electric vehicle charging infrastructure, San Jose wouldn't be far off the mark. But my trip wound up being dominated by range anxiety.
I drive a PHEV (plug-in hybrid) for my commute from home to work and I love it. Electric is the future, and it's great that electric vehicles and charging stations are becoming more common. But renting an electric car in a strange city today is about the worst possible scenario for a short range vehicle. You don't know where the charging stations are, the charging stations require different apps, your hotel might not have a charger, and so on. The people making decisions at car rental companies should know this!