Hertz to Offer Nissan Leaf as a Rental

Interesting, but...

How are the renters going to charge the car. When purchased at
least, the car comes with a proprietary charging station that, IIRC,
gives 6-8 hr full recharge at 220v AC, much longer at 110v.

I wonder, are the rentals just for the day?

Does the rental come with short term AAA towing coverage?

 

Unfortunately, this really doesn't make sense for the average rental car user.

Let's face it. I rent a car when I am away on business or on vacation.

Where in the heck would I charge the Leaf when I am staying at a hotel?

Maybe I'm missing something...but it doesn't make much sense to me.

 

I would think it would be good for people wanting to try out a electric car for a day. Should help sell alot of cars.

 

Advertising hype. They will be impossible to find (limited to a very few offices). However, it should be good for the economy - going out to pick them up when they run out of power will keep someone employed full time.

 

BS - not going to happen. You will see Leafs all over on the side of the roads. Car rental co will be the last to get a elec car.

 

I would imagine that there would be very few Nissan Leaf's stolen because the Leaf thief wouldn't know how to refuel the vehicle.

 

The Leaf will come with a navigation system that identifies charging locations.

Yes, those charging stations will likely be fairly sparse initially, but hopefully you can also view available charging stations online before you rent.

At the very least - I suspect they'll get a decent amount of renters who just want to try it for a week before they buy one. I certainly might go for that.

 

The Leaf is an excellent idea and I hope Nissan suceeds with it. However rental usage? There are some serious logistical problems. Recharge time. Avaliable information is that a special fast charger at a special charging station will give it 80% charge in 30 minutes. A 220V gives it a full charge in 8 hours and 110V is 16hours.

If someone is to rent it, most likely they will try to push the Leaf harder than usual to see what it can do. So it will likely have less than the 100 mile charge range. Most renters also average more than 100 miles per day.

So if they can find a dedicated charging station which will be few and far between and will require a 30 minute wait. Not ideal for a traveler to just sit there for 30 minutes waiting on a 80% charge.

A business renter or vacationer will likely not have access or be willing to spend the time to wait for a 8 or 16 hour charge. A hotel, motel or business is not going to be too receptive for someone to run an extension cord from their building to charge a rental car.

I foresee many people to be interested in the Leaf. Hopfeully it will be successful. But rental use brings a serious concern about the logistics of renting a dedicated electric only vehicle with limited range and battery capacity.

 

I can see the sense in this... I will surely want to an overnight
"extended test drive" before I order/buy my first EV, whether its the
Leaf, IMiEV, Transit Connect, whatever.

But if this is the purpose, why wouldn't Nissan rent them directly. The
Toyota dealer I use for service has an in-house rental for things like a
van, Venza, etc for vacations, etc. I can't argue their fees relative to
the full rental firms, but why wouldn't Nissan rent directly to the
prospective owner?

 

There was a post sometime last year that i replied to..similar thread,
Our main electricity supplier here in Ireland [ESB]has a subsidiary ESB International who are involved with EV car manufacturers to supply charging stations throughout Ireland,i actually had one of the guys directly involved with the project [from ESBI] as a passenger one evening telling me about it and then just before Christmas i had another guy who is a contractor telling me that he was at a meeting with other contractors and hosted by ESBI in relation to installing these meters [his business is in relation to installation in carparks]but other contractors had business with Petrol stations,on street parking etc,
I'd love to see it become a reality for everyday use!!

 

I think this will be great for Hertz. They can market themselves as being green and caring about the environment. At the same time, as many above mentioned, I'll bet a lot of people just wanting to see what an electric car is like, would rent it for the day (the range is what, 100 miles?). For people on business that only need to drive from the airport to their hotel and an office within a few minutes of their hotel, 100 miles should be plenty sufficient for 1-2 days. They won't be able to cruise around town at night, but if the hotel offers a charging solution, they could technically drive it 100 miles per day.

Electric cars should bring a rapid end to any high-speed chases.

 

For a moment I thought I was going to have to be the first to say this IS a great idea. I noticed right after someone pointed out that they might have a recharge problem everyone else decided to jump on that train too... oh well.

The reason I think it will work is because I think Hertz is going to be well aware of the logistical issues way before they try to put this thing into service.

 

+1, I think that would be great to try it.

 

anyone drove one yet?

 

Um, yes ... are you new here? ... several on PC use them as their daily driver. The OP is about a year old.

An old response ... but kind of fun too look back on . . . all the FUD. Who says most auto renters drive 100 miles + ?? We typically fly to our destination, and the car is simply to get around locally ... otherwise we'd get a regular ICE. Here's what some car rental companies envision. You fly into Florida ... CA ... Vegas or some other tourist spot. Pick up your EV rental. Drive the EV to the tourist destination (maybe 10-20-30 miles from airport ... the EV was charged already when you picked it up at the airport) ... whether it's a movie studio, gambling, Disney, etc ... and your hotel is right near by. You park - check into your room - plug in, and you're good to go. WOOOOO scary!

Yea, your restaurants are just a few miles away from your room ... or the casino ... or the beach ... or the amusement park. Several tourist spots around here have chargers. Typically EV drivers are not the dumbest, that drive and drive and drive to empty. If you drive 30, 40 miles - you charge for a couple hours (while you swim gamble, eat, etc) and when you're ready to hit the road. You're good to go.
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