Renting EVs

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Linuxluver

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#239917 10-Aug-2018 14:36

Before I went to Canada a few weeks ago, I tried to rent an EV or hybrid from the mainstream rental companies: Avis/Budget, Hertz, Enterprise.

They all claimed to have at least hybrids. Hertz calls them the "Green Option".

But I found when i tried to actually rent one that the ONLY place in North America where I could actually do it was San Francisco. That's a bit far from Toronto. I found this out by phoning them and saying I'd pick the car up anywhere.....ANYWHERE.....so where can I get one. They had been saying "not at that location". Really? Not at Pearson Airport in Toronto - the busiest in Canada by far? Then where....? Eventually it was clear it was all smoke. There aren't any in Canada at all, anywhere.

Ok...so what to do?

I went to Turo. It's a car-sharing service like AirBnB is for accommodation.

I found a Chevy Bolt EV with 400km range for C$89 / day plus insurance. I rented it for 13 days. I also took their insurance because I wanted the excess to be as small as possible. I got it down to C$500. Total cost for the rental was C$1650.

Yes, that's more than a petrol car would have cost.....but I don't have to buy any petrol, so the 2800kms I drove in those 13 days was a lot cheaper. Much it was charging for free at places I was staying, but I also fast-charged along the way at prices that varied from free (at IKEA) or paid $5/hour to $20/hour.

I could have had a Tesla Model 3 for C$133 / day, but the Bolt EV was good enough.

The point is......via this method, I could have almost any EV I wanted.....whereas the usual companies had nothing at all.

I had an awesome experience in the Chevy Bolt EV, driving up to 820km in one day with no issues.

This is a great way to experience the best that's out there.....if you want to.

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#2071383 10-Aug-2018 15:06

No more having to stress out trying to find a petrol station near the airport and fill it to the brim before you rush to catch your plane scenario either.Then in the mail you may get the equally annoying "we are sorry but you did not fill the vehicle up when you dropped it off and that will be another 30 dollars thankyou very much".Thats has happened to me even after asking the attendant to fill it right up.Yes apparently filling to automatic shutoff is still not enough.All going well my next rental will be an egolf

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ANglEAUT

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#2071600 11-Aug-2018 02:44

In Auckland, there is Cityhop to rent cars by the hour; but in Christchurch there is YooGo share using EV's.

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old3eyes

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#2071703 11-Aug-2018 11:16

I bet you would have liked to bring it back with you. Did you have to charge it up before you returned like a ICEV??

Regards,

Old3eyes

Linuxluver

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#2071873 11-Aug-2018 19:36

IcI:

In Auckland, there is Cityhop to rent cars by the hour; but in Christchurch there is YooGo share using EV's.

I signed up with YooGo at EV World today.

They have BMW i3 and Hyundai Ioniq cars.....I"ll see if I can get one for this week. I'm in Chch Mon-Wed.

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Linuxluver

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#2071874 11-Aug-2018 19:39

old3eyes:

I bet you would have liked to bring it back with you. Did you have to charge it up before you returned like a ICEV??

I didn't have to charge it up.....but I did anyway. I wanted to check out the IKEA only 8km from the drop-off......and they had a free 50kw DC charger. So I zapped it for 45 mins while I was looking around in the store....(and had 2 hotdogs + "Norwegian Fruit Water" for $2).

The guy who owns the car was rapt I'd charged it up for him.....and it was spotless, too. I'm a tidy Kiwi.

I do wish we could get that car here in RHD and with CCS2 DC charging. But the car as it is wouldn't be able to fast charge in NZ as all the CCS1 chargers have been converted to CCS2 (in line with the govt standard of December 2016).

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timmmay

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#2071877 11-Aug-2018 19:46

Electric cars don't seem ideal for rentals yet. Many rentals are used for longer distance touring. Might be nice to have the option, but it seems niche. Maybe when they can recharge almost anywhere in 5 minutes or less they'll be practical as rentals.

I like the idea of rentals as a city runabout more than a distance car.

Linuxluver

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#2071878 11-Aug-2018 20:09

timmmay:

Electric cars don't seem ideal for rentals yet. Many rentals are used for longer distance touring. Might be nice to have the option, but it seems niche. Maybe when they can recharge almost anywhere in 5 minutes or less they'll be practical as rentals.

I like the idea of rentals as a city runabout more than a distance car.

They are improving. I rented a car with 400km range - real-world, too, as I found out. That's several hours of highway driving. Eventually, you stop and take a break for 45 mins or so (lunch and then maybe dinner on a long trip) and charge while you're doing it....and off you go again.

I worked for me.....and I drove 820km in one day from Sarnia, Ontario, around the eastern side of Lake Huron and up to Sudbury and then to Mindemoya on Manitoulin Island. Was great.

The 'stare-through-the-steering-wheel' type who pee in a bottle will never be happy........but most people will find this regime relaxing...and any family with kids will have to stop a lot more than the EV will require.

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Basil12

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#2071886 11-Aug-2018 21:22

Re trying to get the lowest excess possible your travel insurance will normally provide cover of up to $3,000 excess cover for a rental vehicle. However given you didn't rent from a normal rental car company the cover might not have been available.

Dinga96

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#2117977 1-Nov-2018 16:30

Last Thursday I rented an E Golf from Europcar for 5 days .Drove from Christchurch to TeKapo,we did our first charge at Rakaia,which is provided by ea networks which is free, the battery was down to around 40 percent charge,topped up to 80 percent and carried on to the next stop ,ea networks free charger in Ashburton.charged back up to 80 percent. On reflection, I should have really charged the battery fully.The e golfs battery is okay but perhaps a little on the small side for touring around the south island.The next charging station was in Fairlie and I was getting range anxiety,Its about 140 kms to Tekapo .Part of the problem here is you are climbing most the way,so because I didn't fully charge at Ashbuton we could have ran out of battery if say the temperature dropped below freezing.Anyway just to be on the safe side I stopped at the Farm Barn Cafe and they let me use their ac charge point.As it turned out we could have made it with no problems because the next fast charger was only 8kms away in Fairlie.I must say the people at the Farm Barn Cafe were very helpful.In the end decided not to charge at Chargenet in Fairlie and continued on to TeKapo.So we hyper miled the rest of the way.Coasted into Tekapo with around 20 kms showing on the gom.That leg was 140 kms.You would get more out of the e golf in summer time temps probably.Both charge sessions at EA networks were free.After that we paid for every fast charge.Never had to wait to use any fast charger the whole trip.Every town in the McKenzie basin appears to have one,except Mount Cook,which is a bit of a bummer.If you want to head over that way in the e golf you will have to top up to 80 percent in Twizel,Then you can either refuel back at Twizel or head straight back to Tekapo.Five days later the retun trip was a bit trickier, because we had to be at the airport at around 10.00am. To allow for charging time we left at 0600 and did our first stop to charge in Geraldine, then carried on to Rakaia for the second one.Arrived at the airport at around 0:945am for our 10:45am departure.I hope this might be helpful to anyone considering doing a trip down to Tekapo area.We worked out that we spent around a third what we would normally spend on fuel for the entire journey.The e golf preformed pretty well,the only problem was the radar system on the auto cruise control decided to stop working halfway into the trip.

Geektastic

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#2117994 1-Nov-2018 17:32

Linuxluver:

timmmay:

Electric cars don't seem ideal for rentals yet. Many rentals are used for longer distance touring. Might be nice to have the option, but it seems niche. Maybe when they can recharge almost anywhere in 5 minutes or less they'll be practical as rentals.

I like the idea of rentals as a city runabout more than a distance car.

They are improving. I rented a car with 400km range - real-world, too, as I found out. That's several hours of highway driving. Eventually, you stop and take a break for 45 mins or so (lunch and then maybe dinner on a long trip) and charge while you're doing it....and off you go again.

I worked for me.....and I drove 820km in one day from Sarnia, Ontario, around the eastern side of Lake Huron and up to Sudbury and then to Mindemoya on Manitoulin Island. Was great.

The 'stare-through-the-steering-wheel' type who pee in a bottle will never be happy........but most people will find this regime relaxing...and any family with kids will have to stop a lot more than the EV will require.

That's an unusual set of destinations! Business or pleasure?

gooki

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#2118181 2-Nov-2018 00:28

I hired a Tesla Model S from snap rentals. $208 for the day plus $11 for excess insurance from a third party.

Flew from Christchurch to Auckland then drove down to Hamilton and back again. Snap are happy for you to return the Tesla empty at no extra cost.

All up it was less that flying return from Christchurch to Hamilton, plus I had my own transport once in the Tron.

I was planning to spend the night camping out in the Model S boot to save on hotel costs, but ended up with same day flights.

All up, highly recommend.

Linuxluver

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#2118187 2-Nov-2018 02:15

Geektastic:
That's an unusual set of destinations! Business or pleasure?

Pleasure. My brother lives on Manitoulin and my other brother lives near Sarnia.

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jarledb

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#2118188 2-Nov-2018 02:48

Theres a few "AirBNB" type rental services in Norway where you can rent an EV, as well as Avis having a selection of EVs, even on monthly rental agreements that doesn't cost an arm and a leg.

Used it to rent a Leaf for a month while in Norway. Cost me $1145 NZD.

Avis also rent out Tesla Model S in Norway, but I think they have been booked out more or less constantly since they started renting them out.

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Dinga96

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#2118549 2-Nov-2018 14:18

Dinga96:

Last Thursday I rented an E Golf from Europcar for 5 days .Drove from Christchurch to TeKapo,we did our first charge at Rakaia,which is provided by ea networks which is free, the battery was down to around 40 percent charge,topped up to 80 percent and carried on to the next stop ,ea networks free charger in Ashburton.charged back up to 80 percent. On reflection, I should have really charged the battery fully.The e golfs battery is okay but perhaps a little on the small side for touring around the south island.The next charging station was in Fairlie and I was getting range anxiety,Its about 140 kms to Tekapo .Part of the problem here is you are climbing most the way,so because I didn't fully charge at Ashbuton we could have ran out of battery if say the temperature dropped below freezing.Anyway just to be on the safe side I stopped at the Farm Barn Cafe and they let me use their ac charge point.As it turned out we could have made it with no problems because the next fast charger was only 8kms away in Fairlie.I must say the people at the Farm Barn Cafe were very helpful.In the end decided not to charge at Chargenet in Fairlie and continued on to TeKapo.So we hyper miled the rest of the way.Coasted into Tekapo with around 20 kms showing on the gom.That leg was 140 kms.You would get more out of the e golf in summer time temps probably.Both charge sessions at EA networks were free.After that we paid for every fast charge.Never had to wait to use any fast charger the whole trip.Every town in the McKenzie basin appears to have one,except Mount Cook,which is a bit of a bummer.If you want to head over that way in the e golf you will have to top up to 80 percent in Twizel,Then you can either refuel back at Twizel or head straight back to Tekapo.Five days later the retun trip was a bit trickier, because we had to be at the airport at around 10.00am. To allow for charging time we left at 0600 and did our first stop to charge in Geraldine, then carried on to Rakaia for the second one.Arrived at the airport at around 0:945am for our 10:45am departure.I hope this might be helpful to anyone considering doing a trip down to Tekapo area.We worked out that we spent around a third what we would normally spend on fuel for the entire journey.The e golf preformed pretty well,the only problem was the radar system on the auto cruise control decided to stop working halfway into the trip.

That should read "adaptive cruise cruise control" in that last bit.I still am a little baffled as to why it should stop working.I noticed this car had no NZ maps ,not sure why.It could be that hire companies still make a bob hiring out navmans or tom toms.So the in car navigation is disabled.

wellygary

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#2118575 2-Nov-2018 14:41

Dinga96:

That should read "adaptive cruise cruise control" in that last bit.I still am a little baffled as to why it should stop working.I noticed this car had no NZ maps ,not sure why.It could be that hire companies still make a bob hiring out navmans or tom toms.So the in car navigation is disabled.

I'm guessing its because they imported the vehicles from another RHD market... from memory they had them for rent before VW NZ were selling the E-golf here....

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