My wife and I are traveling to Sicily for 2 weeks in mid-April, and after 2 nights in Palermo intend to rent a car for the balance of the trip. At least one rental company has offered a 100% electric vehicle. How practical would this be? Are we better off simply renting a gasoline/diesel-powered vehicle?
Posted by
Seattle, WA, USA ☔️
7613 posts
Depends what kind of driving you are planning to do. If it's just short trips out-and-back from where you're staying, and if there's good changing infrastructure there that you are confident will be available when you need it - then it might be just fine. But if you plan to go touring around, exploring little places and driving all day where there may be little or no charging options, then it sounds like a risky choice to me.
Do you have much experience with electric vehicles at home? On vacation, overseas, in a strange place you do not know (especially if that's away from major cities) is no place to learn about driving pure e-vehicles.
For the kind of driving I do while overseas, no way I would accept an all-electric vehicle (no matter how noble the idea is), least of all in places like rural Sicily where I would guess the charging infrastructure is pretty thin and options limited.
Posted by
OP
Bethesda, MD, USA
15 posts
Thank you, David, for the prompt and focused response. We own an EV in the DC area and have rented one in California before, but there is a robust charging infrastructure on both the East and West Coasts, so it has rarely been a problem. Our plan is to drive all over the island and stay at 5 different places, with day trips from each, so I think the petrol-fueled vehicle is the better choice.
Posted by
Tresana, Highlands Ranch, CO, USA
24034 posts
We have owned AE vehicles since 17 but I would not do it in Sicily without a good understanding of the charging system I don't know if any of the US apps would have charging info for Sicily. I think I would pass in Sicily.
Posted by
3403 posts
To be honest, we found filling the car up with gas challenging enough in Sicily. I can’t imagine trying to find a charging station. I don’t recall ever seeing one but of course I wasn’t looking.
(Self serve in Sicily means no one on site. We could not get our credit card to work. We found another station with an attendant and had no problem. But awfully glad we had not waited for empty!)
Posted by
new york
1175 posts
The only way I would rent an EV in Sicily would be if I contacted my accommodations and asked if they have a charging point on site.
For renting, I highly recommend SIXT and have hired from them many times in southern Italy and in Sicily.
We take the option for fill up and usually have no need to fill up the cars on our own since the total mileage is usually not enough to need a fill up during the trip. I also take all insurances.