Researchers achieve EV battery breakthrough with silicon-based materials and gel electrolytes, moving closer to a 1,000-kilometer range on a single charge.
That’s not a good solution. Renting is a terrible experience too. This is what I would have to do:
Book a rental in advance or pay horrendous rates.
Take an overpriced taxi to the rental place on the day. Uber is banned in my country.
Wait in line, then stand through the strong arm sales tactics to get me to buy the overpriced insurance. I politely decline.
Take a hundred pictures of the exterior to prove I’m delivering it in the same conditions I picked it up because I’ve been scammed too many times.
Drive back to my house, then do all the usual packing.
Gingerly drive this strange car for 12 hours there and back and pray I don’t scratch it because that’s thousands of dollars in extortionate fees.
On return, unpack the car, then give it a clean (or more fees).
Drive it back to the rental agency and argue about the level of gas in the tank and the scratches I didn’t make and the level of general cleanliness inside and out.
Take another overprice taxi back home.
I’ve rented a lot of cars in my life and they’re all bloodsucking leeches. This is not only a much worse experience than simply owning a car which suits our needs, but it’s more expensive.
Your rental experience sounds worse than any I’ve ever had. I have to rent a few times a year.
Also generally I like the idea of renting and having the rental insurance on a long road trip so if something happens then my personal car isn’t totaled or put into a body shop somewhere far away. I’ve hit a deer hours away from home before on a road trip that was WAY worse. If it had been a rental I could have just walked away saying I have insurance so your problem, I need a new car. Where as it became an ordeal of the car being in the body shop 4 hrs away, still needing a rental to get home, since it was far away couldn’t check in on it and the repairs were bad, had to get a ride to get the car, ended up having to drop it off again somewhere local to fix the bad repair job, and get another rental.
I also had range anxiety for EVs on long trips and then I remembered that experience.
Honestly I shop around to an extent and look at reviews for the area. I have to fly to an airport near family and then drive another couple hundred to get to some family. I’ll admit there’s a gambit in quality of the cars, but I don’t have a preferred. And seems like because a brand in x is good doesn’t mean their station in y won’t suck. Hence just hope in reviews being a good indicator.
Or, here’s a crazy idea, for the one week each year where you actually need the range you rent a Honda Civic and leave your EV at home.
That’s not a good solution. Renting is a terrible experience too. This is what I would have to do:
Book a rental in advance or pay horrendous rates.
Take an overpriced taxi to the rental place on the day. Uber is banned in my country.
Wait in line, then stand through the strong arm sales tactics to get me to buy the overpriced insurance. I politely decline.
Take a hundred pictures of the exterior to prove I’m delivering it in the same conditions I picked it up because I’ve been scammed too many times.
Drive back to my house, then do all the usual packing.
Gingerly drive this strange car for 12 hours there and back and pray I don’t scratch it because that’s thousands of dollars in extortionate fees.
On return, unpack the car, then give it a clean (or more fees).
Drive it back to the rental agency and argue about the level of gas in the tank and the scratches I didn’t make and the level of general cleanliness inside and out.
Take another overprice taxi back home.
I’ve rented a lot of cars in my life and they’re all bloodsucking leeches. This is not only a much worse experience than simply owning a car which suits our needs, but it’s more expensive.
Your rental experience sounds worse than any I’ve ever had. I have to rent a few times a year.
Also generally I like the idea of renting and having the rental insurance on a long road trip so if something happens then my personal car isn’t totaled or put into a body shop somewhere far away. I’ve hit a deer hours away from home before on a road trip that was WAY worse. If it had been a rental I could have just walked away saying I have insurance so your problem, I need a new car. Where as it became an ordeal of the car being in the body shop 4 hrs away, still needing a rental to get home, since it was far away couldn’t check in on it and the repairs were bad, had to get a ride to get the car, ended up having to drop it off again somewhere local to fix the bad repair job, and get another rental.
I also had range anxiety for EVs on long trips and then I remembered that experience.
Could you recommend a good rental company? Maybe I’ve been picking the wrong ones.
Honestly I shop around to an extent and look at reviews for the area. I have to fly to an airport near family and then drive another couple hundred to get to some family. I’ll admit there’s a gambit in quality of the cars, but I don’t have a preferred. And seems like because a brand in x is good doesn’t mean their station in y won’t suck. Hence just hope in reviews being a good indicator.