More high-speed chargers and versatile adapters are slated for 2025, but “fast” charging can still be tricky in some areas.
Even before my 20-something daughter and I got on the plane, I’d made a gamble. I’d pay $40-ish less if I opted for a “mystery” airport rental car to drive my daughter and I around the southern coast of North Carolina in search of loggerhead turtles nesting, Venus flytraps in the wild, and beachy delights. What could go wrong?
I scanned the rental agreement too quickly, but two letters—EV—still popped out several times.
“No, you’re not renting an EV,” the rental clerk assured me. But our lot directions and key matched a Hyundai IONIQ 5 hatchback, an attractive EV.
“Want to get a different car?” my daughter asked.
I’d opted for that “mystery” car and signed on multiple dotted lines, plus a late flight had put us an hour behind on our shoreline explorations.
“We’ll be fine,” I said. We had 300 miles of charge, and I figured I’d find a solid charger somewhere. That rental decision launched the most stressful beach trip I’ve ever taken. Renting an electric vehicle when you go on vacation should be a simple and environmentally friendly act, but there are a few things to consider first.
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Most Potential EV Consumers Aren’t Familiar With Driving EV Cars
Many first-time renters may not realize that electric cars can accelerate surprisingly fast, which has led to increased accidents and higher insurance premiums for rental car companies, according to the New York Times. Some EVs have regenerative braking, so the car slows abruptly when you take your foot off the accelerator. That can also be a dangerous feature for inexperienced drivers at higher speeds. Educating their customers about driving and charging EV rental cars isn’t a high priority for many rental car companies, and reading or watching how-tos online isn’t the same as driving an EV for the first time.
Fast EV Chargers Can Be Tricky to Find or Aren’t Compatible
If I’d rented a Tesla, we’d have been golden because there was a Tesla Supercharger station nearby, which can charge up to 200 miles in 15 minutes, but the model I’d rented was a Hyundai EV. That model I’d rented—and most EVs—aren’t compatible with a supercharger, and I couldn’t magically conjure decent charging stations in this small-town coastal area. Some superchargers do offer a “magic dock” adaptor that other EV models can use, but currently, only 100 locations have that, according to Consumer Reports. The closest one didn’t.
Many EV Chargers Don’t Work or Underperform, so You May Need Other Options
Most non-Tesla AC chargers charge VERY slowly, sometimes less than 10 miles per hour, which means you need to leave the car there for 7-plus hours, as the local ChargePoint AC charger told me. No charger was located within walking distance of our lodging for an overnight refill. In hopes of reliving one of her childhood highlights, my daughter and I were also spending most evenings from 7:30 to 10:30 pm hanging with Oak Island loggerhead nest parents at one that was likely to hatch soon. Nowhere near a charger. My Plan B was to do mini-charges whenever and wherever I could. We even got ice cream at one place just to use their charger, but that gave us only three miles in 30 minutes. Eventually, we had to ditch our fun vacation plans earlier to ensure ample time at a decent charger to reach the airport.
Some Chargers Hit You With Fees and Charge Limits
While charging successfully, albeit slowly, I also got notices from my ChargePoint app that if I left the car connected beyond the full charge (which would likely happen in the middle of the night), then the company would start charging me a penalty for taking up the space. By the time I walked the three miles there or paid an Uber to transport me, I would have a nearly $40 deterrence fee slapped onto my EV charging fee.
Chargers Aren’t Always Available
Heading to Bald Head Island for more turtle immersion, my daughter and I planned to park our car and board a people-only ferry to the island for two days. I was elated that the ferry lot had five EV chargers. They were all taken, though, and people had left their cars to charge there for days or even possibly weeks. Clearly, there were no deterrent fees here.
Hoping to snag a charger, we returned on an earlier ferry. I was so excited to maneuver into an open space and plug in. Our hopes were dashed, though. According to the car’s screen, this laughably low-powered charger would take us 80 hours to fully charge the car and our plane was leaving in six. We drove on, our total charge not nearly enough to reach the airport. Our baby sea turtle trek had become a wild goose chase.
The Problems Facing EV Rental Cars
All is not rosy for the rental car companies who did, one must admit, try to do the right thing by offering EV rentals. For multiple reasons, they’re finding these vehicles more challenging to rent and make a profit. Hertz, for example, said they’d buy 100,000 Teslas, but they’ve been selling off EVs lately, due to lost profits, according to Autoweek. EV resale value depreciated more quickly than they anticipated—especially after Tesla recently lowered its prices to boost sales. Additionally, replacement parts for EVs were harder to source than gas-driven cars, which made repair costs higher for rental companies. People—including me—often return the car on empty as well, according to Loopit, a car subscription company. Building onsite recharging facilities is expensive, and re-charging takes more time than refilling a gas tank. In many ways, though, making EVs work smoothly as rental cars comes down to questions of scale, education, and standardizing the charging equipment for all EV models.
The Future of EV Rentals
Tesla took the fast-charging lead with its direct current superchargers. Many non-Tesla EVs can now use these superchargers with a NACS (National American Charging Standard) adaptor, which runs about $225. General Motors and other companies have already released these adaptors, and the 2025 Hyundai Ioniq 5 will come with its own NACS-adapted charging port. As it turns out, I rented that vehicle about six months too early.
When the ferry parking lot charger failed, we found a decent one a quarter mile from a dive pub with excellent quesadillas and tried to chill. I charged until we reached 89 miles. We were 70 from the airport. On the way, we turned the AC to 80 degrees and didn’t charge our phones. I was wildly stressed out. As our charge depleted, the dashboard flashed oh-so-helpful alarm lights and directions warning me that I needed to charge soon. Yes, we did make it to the airport with a mere 14 miles to spare. Yes, I’ll rent an EV again, but I’ll wait about six months for the kinks to shake out.
