I guess you were right a couple of comments ago haha. I officially agree to disagree! 😃
I don't think it is unreasonable for Hertz to add a surcharge on top of the electricity costs. Businesses do not thrive on providing services "at cost". If they only charged the residential rates, then a customer would be silly to go to a Supercharger and pay *more" for the same amount of charge, right? That would incentivize customers to return cars with low state of charge, which, in turn, leads to Hertz needing to spend more on infra, ops, electricity, and slows down turn around times.
If Hertz wants to charge the customer nearby Supercharger rates + 10% (or whatever) then I think that is reasonable. I don't know what the "upper limit" of that surcharge looks like, so I won't comment on when a surcharge changes from reasonable to unreasonable.
We've had our MX for 7 years and we've just been using 120v and the included mobile charger from day 1, it's been fine, and it's $0 infra.
Ah, respect. We have a Model Y and have been doing the same for almost 2 years now. Though, technically, nowadays it is $250 to get the mobile charger. It isn't included for free anymore.
120v isn't going to cut it for rental turnarounds. It literally takes days to go from 10% to 90% with L1. L2 (either 40a or 60a) would probably be the sweet spot.
Hertz has ~3000 locations in the United States according to a quick internet search I just did. Assuming an average of... what, 2 or 3?, per location and $1,000 per installation, that's $6 million to $9 million upfront costs. Factor in some amount of maintenance/repairs because commercial is way harder on stuff.
Now, that's not a big cost for Hertz. My numbers might be low, but even if you 3x the costs, it still isn't necessarily breaking the bank.
But.
Electricity ain't free. Let's assume $0.20/kwh. That's more than I pay but way less than other places. We will assume a battery size of 65kwh. That's smaller than my Model Y LR, but I assume a Model 3 has a smaller battery. Could be wrong on that. To full charge that car would cost Hertz $13 at these rates (assuming %100 efficiency; L1 is closer to 80% and L2 is closer to 95% (I think)).
I think Hertz hit a high of around 50,000 Teslas (again, quick internet search, could be off).
If Hertz has to fully charge each Tesla once a week, that's $650,000 per week or nearly $34 million per year. That isn't nothing.
That's why I think it makes sense to require either a minimum return charge (say, 70%), or some sort of surcharge to help cover the costs of all that electricity, infrastructure, operations, etc.
Ghost on the Wheel.
Yeah, I said DCFC but I meant CCS.
No worries, I understood that bit.
I've been trying to get my parents to trade in one of their three cars and go electric simply to save money on gas/maintenance. My dad test drove a Model Y Performance and had a blast (he's a car guy), but he's also a miser when it comes to large, upfront purchases. I even made him a spread sheet showing the long term savings haha!
How do they charge cars now that are returned without full charge?
No idea, nor does it really matter.
My point is that surcharges for electricity apply nearly as much as surcharges for gasoline, because both require the company to spend quite a bit of money.
If Hertz does not charge the customer for returning a car with a low state of battery, then they will need to raise rental prices to pay for that. I assume they would rather have lower looking rental fees and then charge customers on the return.
A long trip using DCFC is probably one of the most challenging things you can do with an EV.
I mean, unless it's a Tesla. The nav screen handles everything, the chargers all work, and it is a simple plug n play.
I'm sure there are edge cases, especially if someone is completely unaware of EVs and does not know to use the car's nav system.
Time to up the automation to three times a day haha!
Sep 22 MYLR, Fremont made. It was perfect.
I'm not saying Hertz shouldn't do these things.
The original comment I replied to said Hertz should not charge a customer for returning with a low battery.
My reply was focused on how returning a car with a low battery costs Hertz money by either taking employee time and company money to charge at a Supercharger or lots of company money by installing 1+ L2 chargers at every Hertz location.
It, to me, is silly to expect Hertz to not try and recoup those losses.
Installing 1 or more L2 chargers at every Hertz location would be a massive capital expenditure. Who pays for that?
Ok, but now every Hertz location has to install 1 or more on-site chargers. That's an incredible capital expenditure.
In general, most Teslas will only have the following "paid" options:
- Premium connectivity: allows the car to connect to available cell service. You can stream Netflix (while parked), see traffic info on the map (car will always choose a route based on traffic data, this just allows you to see it), stream music from app (you can always stream from your phone via Bluetooth).
$10/month or $100 for the year (in the US).
- Full Self Driving (Supervised): allows you access to FSD for use on city streets/highways. Note, this upgrades the standard Autopilot all Teslas have.
$100/month or a one-time $8,000. FSD is locked to the car, so you lose it if you sell/trade-in the car. Occasionally, Tesla offers deals to move FSD to a new car.
That's, uh, about it. Some Long Range models can pay $2,000 for acceleration boost to shave a few tenths of a second off their 0-60mph time.
The Cybertruck, in my personal opinion, looks pretty rad stock. But it looks absolutely incredible with a wrap.
+1 for the Akira reference!
My, uh, what finely turned calves you have.
sweats profusely
I’m a little slow
Not anymore you ain't. You own a Tesla!
Sir, this isn't a Wendys.
Ducking autoconnect!
Fade wondering whether or not to get a fade?
Fade worrying about their fade?
Fade's fade?
Come on, mate, the title writes itself!
Let's GOOOOOOO!
(and come back and land)
Flight 5
SpaceXMasterrace