The Hertz Tesla reveal
What a scoop they got. Bloomberg headlines. My retweet of a retweet. I totally fell for it, like many in the Twittersphere (a very Tesla dominated environment obviously).
But, living in The Netherlands the Hertz announcement was one to be expected. Why did it take so long?
Lets zoom out and focus on the international context. I hope one day it will be easier to figure out what exactly was going on, when comparing Europe to The States. Because looking at the Hertz website right now, at least New York & San Francisco (two examples) are showing the Model 3 already (as “sold out though”, in November). In Europe I can’t get any hit.
(Meanwhile I got confirmation you can book a Model 3 in Florida, for January). Please do let me know if you have any more information on this! My gut feeling says of these 100.000 vehicles in total it might be that 80.000 actually end up going to the USA. Unfortunately that’s not my area of expertise (I rented only once in the USA).
Hertz is starting with quite the promotion in the States. Till the end of January charging is included in your rental! Read the full blog by Hertz USA here.
Renting electric, right now (in Europe)
My blog focuses on Europe and the possibilities are growing every month it seems. This announcement is just a small part of that really. Tesla is already quite easily available in Europe thanks to UFODRIVE. I tested their vehicles and app back in 2019. Over the years Sixt has proven quite the supplier of EV’s, they started with the Jaguar I-Pace in The Netherlands back in 2018. It was the vehicle that proved to me renting electric was the only way. I’ve shared my rides on BlaBlaCar many times and introduced lots of newcomers to the possibilities of electric roadtrips. Of course in Germany not all passengers were always convinced, plus I like to drive to 0% SoC (State of Charge) which is not for everyone, but it keeps the spirit up!
If you’re looking to rent an EV right now, in Europe I recommend visiting places like Sweden (where Sixt even offers the Mach-E and EQA). In France you can find the Honda E at Sixt! (If you dare!)
The Netherlands even has the BMW iX3 in store for you, at Sixt. Something I don’t understand until this point is what Sixt in Belgium is doing: I’m trying to book a MINI and it points me to Eindhoven and then changes the MINI electric into a Kona.
The hidden gem of Europe, right now? The ENYAQ, 77kWh at Sixt France. Get it while it’s hot!
The only thing you know for sure when renting is you don’t know much for sure. It’s often hard to find out if you get a charging card with the vehicle, and which one. It’s often unknown how big your battery is. When I booked a Kona they wanted to give me a LEAF once. Of course for roadtrips in Europe nobody should want to send people away with CHAdeMO, but try convincing your rental agent of this.
We don’t live in a perfect world, but driving electric can be cheap if you follow my newsletter! See you at a (fast) charger soon!
What Hertz might be forgetting
What does a consumer of a rental car want? There are very few moments of interaction. To me, as a “frequent flyer” the website (or app) matters. This is where Hertz does score zero bonus points. In my opinion it’s where Sixt shines. A fast website that helps finding the vehicle you need at competitive prices. I wish it was easy for me to find a Hertz Tesla, but it’s not (right now). We can only hope for change! The first step, is here.