Two Qs -- Electric Car Rental Puglia and Bari Transfer

You are correct in not picking up a car when you get into Bari, even if the rental car companies would be open at that time. Driving a car after a long flight is never a good idea. In this case, in a strange area and compounded by being at night, this would be a recipe for disaster.

On the EV, there is a reason the EVs cheaper to rent. The rental car companies caught the EV fever early on a stocked a lot of EVs. Tourists are not renting them. So, they have an oversupply and that is why they are cheap. Unless your hotel(s) has an EV charger (does it??) do you want to be dictated where you go and spend a considerable amount of time by where there is an EV charging station?? Not the way I would want to spend my vacation.

Regarding the electric car, what are your plans? Modern EVs have pretty good range so if you're not planning any really long drives and can charge overnight, there is a decent chance you'll never have to worry about charging. But you can get an overview of the available charging stations here: https://chargemap.com/map (unofficial map, don't trust it to be 100% accurate).

My little town of 2000 souls high up in the mountains has four charging stations. So does every small town around, and of course more in the cities. I don't think you'd have any trouble finding charging stations, but it will require a little bit of pre-planning and asking around. I have an electric car (not a hybrid) and love the freedom of driving by gas stations and just plugging it in when I'm done driving for the day (or every few days.) 300+/- km of range is normal, and that's 3-6 hours of driving per charge. But, I charge at home mostly. If you are new to electric cars, and it makes you nervous, pay for a hybrid or gas/diesel vehicle. I just wanted to reassure you that it's more than reasonable to expect to find functioning chargers nearly everywhere in small-town Italy.

In our part of Liguria / Northern Tuscany chargers are few and far between. There are some in large supermarket parking lots, but otherwise you'll have to plan wisely. Searching for chargers is tedious enough when you're on your home turf.

Badger -- the plan is to spend 4 days outside of Ostuni. We will drive to the coast one day and visit some of the small towns around Ostuni -- I expect all will be in a 30 min drive time radius. Then we head to Lecce for 2 days where I expect we will want to see a few coastal spots along the way. Then to Matera for 2 days -- once there, I don't expect we will drive much. Then back to Bari airport.

I've looked at the map of charging stations. It appears there are chargers in most of these small towns. I was looking for someone who had done it and could say -- you can pull up to small town X and there will be 2 chargers, and you can charge while exploring that day. Or they say -- you pull up to small town X, there will be two chargers, but don't count on charging because chances are they will both be occupied. Something like that.

Anyone have a recommendation on transfers from Bari airport to the hotel that doesn't cost a fortune? Should we just try to catch a cab or will it be too late and the cabs will be done for the night?

If that is all you're planning you really do not need to worry as long as you're staying somewhere that has an outlet you can use for charging overnight. A modern EV usually has at least 300 km range. And it seems like the longest drive you're planning is Lecce to Matera, which is around 170 km.

If you go to rural areas there are a few in larger towns (not so much in villages), but they are not fast charging. You won’t be stranded but you might have to find one and keep it charging for a long time wasting precious touring time. Personally I think that in rural Italy it is best to stay at a place where you can charge it overnight.

Perspective needed. After spending several thousand dollars for a Puglia vacation, why would you devote vacation time and hassle with chargers to save a modest amount on a week's car rental?

Perspective needed. How much hassle is it to plug in the car every evening? And if saving precious vacation time is important, how much time does it take compared to a detour to a petrol station?

A nice hotel in a prime location at a good price is most important and it seems to me that having to get a hotel with charging stations will severely limit your hotel choices.

Most (nearly all) public charging stations in Italy are Enel X Way charge stations run by Enel, the largest Italian utility and BE Charge, part of the ENI Group, a multinational oil company.

So all you have to do is go to Google Maps, zoom in the area of interest, and search for "Enel X Way" or "BE Charge" and you will see virtually all stations in the area. You can even see Google Maps to see what they look like and where they are located. In some busy areas with scarce parking available, don't be surprised if Italians park their cars in the charging spot even though the car isn't an electric car.

Be aware that recharging at a charging station in Italy is not as cheap as charging at home. The above Italian companies charge on average 0.60€ to over 0.90€/kWh therefore, although you may be saving on rental fees, you will definitely not save over fuel cost unless you have a private farmhouse or something, where you can charge from an outlet.