The rocky EV transition
When renting a car, gas engines more convenient, time efficient
As automakers transition to electric vehicles over the next few years under U.S. government mandates, rental lots offer a microcosm of what the market impact may look like.
So far it’s been a rocky road.
I own a Tesla Model 3, but when it came to renting a car from Hertz while on vacation in Florida this winter, I chose a gas-powered Chevy Malibu. I’m not alone. Hertz — like General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co., Volkswagen AG and other automakers — has been aggressive about moving to an all-electric fleet, only to run up against high costs and customer resistance compared with their gas-fired models.
When it comes to renting a car, internal combustion engines are more convenient, less stressful, more time efficient. Like big automakers, Hertz — the largest rental car company in the United States — has responded by scaling back its ambitions.
Hertz went all in on EVs last year with plans to make battery-powered vehicles 25% of its fleet (330,000 vehicles) by the end of 2024. The company cited EV advantages that include cheaper maintenance, better depreciation costs, city mandates that ride-share services be all-electric, and big federal Inflation Reduction Act subsidies that qualified each EV Hertz purchases for a $7,500 tax credit.
“Hertz is investing in the largest EV rental fleet in North America,” Hertz CEO Stephen Scherr said in New York last fall. “New York City (is) a natural accelerator for the most significant transformation that’s happened in the auto industry in a century.”
But in practice, EVs have proven problematic for rental customers. New Yorker Lydia Moore, 61, took her first trip in a Chevrolet Bolt she and her wife rented from Hertz in February last year to drive upstate for a weekend. She did not enjoy the experience.
“It was horrible,” she said. “We loved the car, but didn’t know how many miles we could go and where we would charge. The car became the focus of our trip.”
Moore and her wife, Lynn, don’t own an automobile and regularly rent gas vehicles from Hertz in Manhattan. But when they entered their usual 48th Street Midtown location, only electrics were available. “We asked for a gas car, but they only had EVs,” Moore recalled.
Their first charging stop was at a 240-volt, alternating-current Blink charger where they plugged in for two hours and only gained 10% of charge. At the end of the weekend, they found a direct-current fast charger on their way back into Manhattan so they could recharge the car to 75% as required by Hertz’s return policy.
“The charger’s operation was difficult to understand, and we were outside in driving rain,” said Moore. “One side of the chargers didn’t work, and when we tried the other port we had to reset it. It caused us serious trauma.”
They took another weekend trip to Hawley, Pennsylvania, in September, and once again Hertz only had battery power on offer. This time they got a Tesla Model 3 and its accompanying charging network, which made for less range anxiety. “The Tesla worked better, but it still takes hours out your life,” said Moore.
In addition to owning Model 3s, I have also rented Teslas from Hertz while traveling on my own. But when it came to renting on a Florida getaway, I walked past rows of EVs that included 250-mile-plusrange Teslas, Ford Mustang Mach-Es, Kia EV6s and Volkswagen ID.4s for a gas-powered Chevy Malibu in Hertz’s President’s Club lot at Fort Myers airport. Attendants told me EVs are rarely chosen by customers.
In addition to local Naples travel, our packed five days in Florida included trips to Sarasota and Miami. I didn’t want to have to calculate where we’d charge (we would ultimately cover 510 miles) or check with the hotel if they had a charger for overnight (they didn’t), or make one last, long stop on the way to the airport to fill up.
On my way to Miami in the Malibu, for example, I pumped in 328 miles of fuel (from 118 miles to a full 446) in one minute. A Kia EV6, one of the industry’s fastest-charging vehicles with an 800-volt platform, claims it can add 210 miles in 18 minutes on a 350 kW charger.
Mickey Citerala, 36, of Boulder, Colorado, had a memorable adventure when he rented a 232-mile range Kia EV6 at Southwest Florida International Airport in Fort Myers for a family Christmas in Naples.
The zippy, roomy SUV fit his family of five — including three kids 8, 5 and 2 years old — nicely, including luggage, but finding charging in Naples was a challenge. An Electrify America DC fast charger wasn’t working properly, so he had to settle for a 240-volt AC charger at Target, which took 13 hours to charge overnight and required Citerala to Uber back and forth from his in-laws’ apartment.
He eventually discovered a more convenient charger 3 miles away at a Cadillac dealership. An avid runner, he planned his charging around a jog to the beach and back. He would put 800 miles on the Kia during his visit, including daily travel, round trips to the airport and the big test: a 400-mile family trip across the state to Orlando to visit amusement parks.
“The Orlando trip made me nervous,” said Citerala, who enjoys driving EVs and started the journey with 100% of charge. “I wondered if we would make it because there was a lot of traffic and the temperature was getting hotter.” Battery range is sensitive to temperature as well as speed.
He made it to Orlando with just 10% of charge left. Using a handful of smartphone charging apps, he found a DC charger in a mall near their hotel (which did not have overnight charging).
Like Moore, Citerala said he’d likely choose a gas car for future trips, though he’d also be willing to rent a Tesla for its superior charging network. “With an EV, you need to plan the trip around charging the car,” he said. “With gas, it just takes minutes to fill.”
Government rules are fast making it prohibitive for manufacturers to offer that choice. California (and 14 other states) will ban new gas-powered car sales by 2035 with the federal government not far behind — with a proposed rule mandating that 67% of sales be EV by 2032.
Under pressure from the United Auto Workers and auto dealers (who, like Hertz, have seen EVs sit on their lots), the Biden administration may relax its EV goals, according to news reports.
“It’s a concession driven by both politics and by a market reality that is increasingly hard to deny,” said Michigan economist Patrick Anderson, CEO of the Anderson Economic Group, which studies gas versus EV costs.
“Right now, electric vehicle drivers like me are lucky to see two-thirds of the public chargers working. It is foolish to think two-thirds of Americans are going to trade in their reliable gas-powered vehicles for an EV when the charging network is so feeble,” Anderson said.
In recent months, Hertz has begun selling off its EV fleet and New Yorker Moore has noticed that Hertz’s Midtown lot has made more gas cars available.
“With a gas car, you just get in and go,” she said. “Refueling just takes five minutes at most.”
On my way back to the Fort Myers airport at vacation’s end, I stopped quickly to top up the Malibu. I didn’t need an app to find a gas station, the pumps worked, and a minute later I was back on my way.