Car rental warning

T he bigger question is are you truly getting an AE vehicle or a hybrid? I don't think you would confuse a gasoline engine with an all AE. Start very different and no noise. Also an AE vehicle will have no exhaust pipes in back so a quick look will notice the difference. Unless you have experience with an AE vehicle, I would not accept one in Europe.

Yup, happened to me,
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/transportation/hertz-pushing-evs-in-the-us

To be honest, this is something you need to prepare for, electric cars are getting more and more popular in Europe. More in some countries than other, but their market share is growing everywhere. And rental car companies are becoming less interested in buying petrol cars, their resale value is not the same as it has been.

I was given a hybrid car in Scotland earlier this year, but was happy to take it. Better gas mileage, less noise and better for the planet. I would welcome the chance to drive an EV, even if it is a surprise. :-)

The last thing I want is one more stress to worry about when driving in another country. I'll be avoiding EV's until it's forced on me. Like Mardee, I was given a hybrid, which seems a heck of a lot more sensible in remote areas. If I understand correctly, the hybrid charges while you brake, which makes sense because we are through a lot of gas during our highway driving days. We had the hybrid for about 8 days and 1500kms and I had to fill it twice.

As someone who naively accepted an EV rental without requesting one (see above my post from last summer), I don't think rental agencies should rent fully electric vehicles to those who did not request one or who are unfamiliar with them. In one of those twists of fate the Washington Post has an article about the problems the US is having in rolling out the infrastructure needed to support EVs. The article is gifted. https://wapo.st/41smgXy. The problems noted in the WaPo article include those I encountered.

We had the hybrid for about 8 days and 1500kms and I had to fill it twice.

selling hybrids on fuel mileage at filling twice in 8 days and 1500 km wouldn't do it for me. My 5 year old diesel Honda Civic usually gets at least 1200 km per 40 litre fillup when I'm on holiday... I'm not yet quite sold on full EV, but not too far away, but I certainly wouldn't want a hybrid.

We were upgraded to a plug-in hybrid in Norway this fall. We chose not to deal with plugging it in over the two weeks we had it, but we still got 47+MPG. It was very similar to our SUV at home in almost every way except for the fact it got much better mileage. I wasn't ready to rent an EV, but I can't think of any reason not to rent a hybrid.

selling hybrids on fuel mileage at filling twice in 8 days and 1500 km
wouldn't do it for me. My 5 year old diesel Honda Civic usually gets
at least 1200 km per 40 litre fillup when I'm on holiday...

The big advantage that hybrids have is in urban areas with a lot of stopping and starting. Going from A to B on the motorway there is not a huge difference.

I'm not yet quite sold on full EV, but not too far away, but I
certainly wouldn't want a hybrid.

Regular hybrids are outdated now in my opinion, but plug in-hybrids can still be a good option for many.

We were upgraded to a plug-in hybrid in Norway this fall. We chose not
to deal with plugging it in over the two weeks we had it, but we still
got 47+MPG.

Why not? There are plenty of places to charge your car Norway, and plugging it in when possible would have saved you a bit of money in petrol cost.

We had the hybrid for about 8 days and 1500kms and I had to fill it twice.

selling hybrids on fuel mileage at filling twice in 8 days and 1500 km wouldn't do it for me.

Really depends on how big the tank is on that car, whether that is a good consumption rate.

My hybrid gets approximately 50% better mileage than the non-hybrid version. The fuel tank is 2/3 the size of the non-hybrid, as the batteries take up space. As Badger said, it's all about the stop and go city mileage, not highway miles. Pick your rental vehicle based on how you're going to use it. The rental car staff don't know or care about figuring out what's best for you. Not everyone renting a car is going on long distance drives.

Really depends on how big the tank is on that car, whether that is a
good consumption rate.

Nobody has ever accused me of being good at math but if my numbers are correct after looking at the specs for the car, I got about 44mpg. The battery life on this particular car is specified as only 41km. The specs on the non-hybrid are 29mpg combined highway and city. So a bit better, but not enough savings to make me sacrifice the convenience of a combustible engine while on vacation.