The topic appears here occasionally, so thought this might offer some insight to those considering an electric rental car.
Posted by
California Central Coast 🐚
501 posts
I've taken my EV on many road trips over the past five years. But only up and down the west coast of the US where I know I can get the charging that I need. In fact, it has been super easy and a money saver. However, I agree that renting an EV in an unknown area (or even a known area where you haven't driven an EV) can be very risky. I would be tempted but I wouldn't do it.
Posted by
Brooklyn, NY
4919 posts
We rented a hybrid once in Croatia. Even though my husbands reads Croatian fluently, he still couldn’t figure out how to charge the darn car or work the station. Never again, not worth the aggravation.
Posted by
1961 posts
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/transportation/hertz-pushing-evs-in-the-us
My post from 2.5 years ago we rented an EV. I will never rent an EV again and was so turned off by the whole experience I will likely never own a full EV.
Posted by
Calgary
2007 posts
Not the first time this has been shared here.
Some countries have better charging infrastructure than others, but that's only going to improve, since EVs have just started to outsell gas vehicles in Europe. https://insideevs.com/news/785541/ev-sales-surpass-gas-cars-europe-first-time/
(I LOVE my EV, even though I live in a backwards, anti-renewable province.)
Posted by
SF Bay Area
97 posts
I would never recommend anyone who doesn’t own an EV to have their first experience be a rental. The learning curve is just too steep. We thought about renting an EV in Portugal, but decided it was a little too tricky. As someone said, you may have to deal with different charging apps. I love my Chevy Bolt, and my husband just got a 2023 Hyundai Ioniq5 which will be our road trip car.