With a Tesla you don't install apps or use a credit card. You just plug into their Superchargers (which are automatically added to your route if the car needs to charge to get to your destination). In the US, the largest gap between superchargers is Coeur d'Alene, Idaho to St. Regis, Montana (94 miles). I've gone on road trips all over the western US and never worried about charging.
1. You're talking about Tesla ownership, not rental.
2. You still need a very specific payment source, even if it's not physically on you at the time of purchase. If you're a foreigner, this may be literally impossible for you. Many places only work by linking with your local bank account. Tourists do not have local bank accounts.
I see, as far as I know that is not possible with Tesla rental in the UK (where my experience was). This is nice, but does it work with non-Superchargers? I wouldn't want to be tied down to one provider on vacation. Superchargers are rare in some countries.
The article is about Hertz renting out Teslas in the US. That's what I was talking about, and that's what I thought you were talking about because you didn't mention that your experience was based on renting a different brand of EV in a different country.
Teslas work fine with 3rd party chargers. It's just that (as you noticed with your Polestar rental) 3rd party chargers are inconvenient and tend to be poorly maintained.
That's cool, but I'm not a tesla owner and I don't live in your country. When speaking of an international rental firm, I hope you understand that I'm going to base my expectations on past experiences, and not the best-case story of a tesla owner in a country I actively avoid traveling to.
The experience of renting a Tesla from Hertz is the same across countries. You can use Superchargers just like if you owned the vehicle. Hertz adds the charging costs to your bill. And looking at Tesla's charging map, the density of chargers in Europe is greater than in the western US. When I drove to Salt Lake City (800 miles), there were 14 Superchargers along the route. A similar trip in the EU or UK would have twice as many.
Basing your expectations on past experiences makes sense, but it also makes sense to update those expectations based on the reports of people who have been there and done that, so to speak.
Between the site guidelines and Tesla's (in)famous lack of PR, I am compelled to assume that you are not a shill.
But it always astounds me how reliably Tesla owners attempt to convince me that water isn't wet. It really feels like you're trying to sell me on renting a Tesla from Hertz. But Hertz has written down their Teslas and they're replacing them with ICE vehicles. So why are you trying to convince me that renting a Tesla from Hertz is a good experience, when I can't even do that today? If it's such a good experience, what is this article about? What do you know that the finance wonks at Hertz don't know?
Sell to me. Why do I want to rent a car that's renowned for its big-screen touch interface, drunk&stoned UX decisions like the yoke, hitting parked emergency vehicles, and uploading livefeeds from the cabin for Tesla employees' amusement? What's the actual valprop over a Yaris, which has never tried to steer me into oncoming traffic? (message between the lines: attempt to entice me with FSD, or autopilot, and you will only undermine your case)
Because right now you're trying to move me from "charging a rental in a foreign country isn't stress I need in my life" to "this guy on the internet thinks that charging a Tesla is almost as easy as gassing up a Yaris." And that's still a million miles from sold.
First, you said that EVs don’t have enough charging infrastructure for road trips, and you complained about charging apps, so I explained how that wasn’t a problem with Teslas (which is what this article is about). Then you said that it was different for rented Teslas in other countries, so I explained how that wasn't the case. Now you claim I’m trying to get you to use a Tesla. Nothing could be further from the truth.
I’ve never driven a Jeep. I don’t particularly care for Jeeps. But if someone says to me that they own a Jeep and it can do X, I’ll give that some credence. Sure they may be a Jeep fan, but they also have lots of experience with Jeeps. I definitely wouldn’t say, “That's cool, but I'm not a Jeep owner and I don't live in your country. I hope you understand that I'm going to base my expectations on past experiences, and not the best-case story of a Jeep owner in a country I actively avoid traveling to.” That would be rude and unproductive.
If the Jeep owner ignored the insult and said, “Actually Jeeps in other countries are quite similar and can also do X.”, I definitely would not reply by talking about how Jeep fans always try to convince me that Jeeps are great, yet they refuse to acknowledge Jeep’s poor reliability, lack of curtain airbags, rollover propensity, etcetera. To a neutral reader, that might come off like someone who is incapable of changing their mind.
