I thought so too but Hurricane Ian showed me if you had a gas car there was no place to fill it for 2 days after here in north Orlando. Stations didn’t have gas and most were closed in a 5-ish mile radius around me. All Superchargers and CCS chargers were operational except for a few stalls in Daytona where I heard about a fallen tree crushing a charger.
I had power throughout Ian and my workplace did too so I could have also charged there.
Car rental agencies that rent non-Teslas are in for a world of “newbie EV” pain.
I’ve owned various CCS EVs - ID.4, Mach-E, BMW i4, MINI electric, etc. and they require more knowledge (you need apps to pay for charging, app to help you find chargers, to know the difference between L2 and DC charging) and then driving up to a Tesla Supercharger and plugging in.
I’m surprised the Avis rep didn’t even offer a PRE-PAY for a FULL TANK on this Niro EV 
or return for $XX per KWH, Now that would’ve been the Cherry on Top
Altough I love EVs, unplanned road trips are the weakest spot of EVs. And that was your first EV experience. This was a perfect storm. I am honestly impressed that you were able to figure out public fast charging even though you were not prepared for it at all. That ecosystem is still very nascent and rough around the edges.
It’s also a challenge for firefighters who have to use between 8,000 to 12,000 gallons of water to put out the fires, more than 10 times as much as a gas engine-based vehicle
Which we as LH’ers knew (EVs are a conspiracy by union fire fighters who get bonus pay for re-ignited blazes)
The issue has gotten so bad that some tow truck drivers in Florida have refused to pick up flood-damaged EVs. Tim Baker, a tow truck driver, told ABC News that one car he picked up caught on fire after he brought it to his lot.
More room for the brined Range Rovers and Maseratis.
Fredrickson said the simplest way of avoiding an EV car fire is moving the car away from a potential flood area before a major storm, and if a car is submerged in salt water unplugging it from the wall before power is restored could be key to preventing it from bursting into flames.
He forgot discharging the battery before a hurricane (removing it’s ability to help you escape), and putting the car in rice after the hurricane.
He said there could still be hundreds of EVs stored in people’s garages in Florida that could turn into potential fire hazards once power is returned to the grid.
Aren’t there at least that many Bolts with open recalls?
Meh… flooded ICE car or flooded EV are both toast 
Sure, 250. If you never go uphill. Or use the A/C. Or heat. Or the temperature is never not 70 degrees. Or you don’t have any passengers, or luggage. Or… you get the point.
So EVs are so awesome, I need to “know about” them before driving one? LOL. Every rental I have ever had, all I knew about them was get in, start car, drive. It’s all you need to know. It’s all you should need to know.
EVs are just toys for the rich.
While probably true, I think the hope is that this won’t be the case in the very near future as the infrastructure continues to get built out and as we make continued advancements to make them more affordable.
Last week Tesla had a bunch of CPO 2019 Model 3 standard range plus on sale for only $36k including FSD. Some of them had less than 8000 miles.
Definitely not just for the rich.
Hertz made the right choice going with the Teslas simply because a non EV driver can get in and drive. Curious to see more stories like OPs if these EVs come out to colder climates and add in faulty EA chargers.
Wonder if the real reason was so hertz can just turn the cars off remotely when they report them “stolen” instead of sending police after everyone?
Nevermind, they definitely want cops to bust some skulls.
Completely agree with your first point (and I am a very satisfied EV owner)
Avis did you dirty, about the equivalent of renting you a diesel car and telling you its fine to just fill it with regular gas.
As far as not being in rental fleets, I believe they should, as an option, not forced upon you. I mean in this case, if there were no EVs you wouldn’t have had a car to rent.
Yeah, this seems much more like a rental car issue than an EV issue. Insert Seinfeld joke here about rental car reservations not actually meaning anything. You reserved a car and they didn’t have the class you booked. Has probably happened to most frequent travelers before.
For me, it was Budget in Maui. We reserved a SUV and got there amongst a crush of people and they had zero cars. Eventually we were eighth in line when a hard top mustang was available. All seven groups ahead of us declined and we said screw it, guess this is what we are driving (or not driving on all the dirt roads) after waiting an hour and not wanting to wait another 2+ hours.
Your options are take what they give you or go elsewhere. You chose to take what they gave you. Yes they shouldn’t have lied to you but a 15 buck an hour rental car employee probably didn’t even know what he was saying wasn’t true.
I hope as @305Hackr reads this thread, the “hard no” becomes a “soft okay” because there are many benefits to an EV.
Just not renting one for long distance driving without proper charging mapping beforehand.
Other than the Avis/charging mishaps… how did you like driving an EV?
They got to have renters answer a checkmark, “Do you or have you own an EV?” before renting on to the masses.
Dwindling range at speeds over 65mph on my Leaf was something I learned via personal experience rather than reading anywhere and not charging above 75% if time is of the essence.
Plus, I’m not charging above 75% at home either - it seems to be a waste of time and energy unless it uses the same amount of energy to slooooooowly charge the last 25% but four times as slow.
And I do have a fantasy dream of taking our EVs for a road time but have yet to make a plunge with family and even know WHERE all superchargers are.
But for city life, work commute, kids bussing - it’s all working out perfectly thus far.
A Kia is representing all of EVs now?
That’s why there is free cancellation and no penalties for no cancellation when you don’t pre-pay
It’s possible but it’ll be nothing short of miserable in a Leaf or Bolt.
You really need something that can do 150-200mi, drop in for a 15-30min refill and keep going as opposed to the former’s 60+mins to pick up similar RW range.
