What would best EV (s) to rent for a day

[J Alynn]

So @SpaceEVDriver has suggested renting and driving BEV to those of us who are newbies. We will be in Texas in April to visit my daughter at college. Likely Houston or Dallas to College station so since we have 1-1/2 or 2-1/2 hour round trips from airport and two days around town at campus my wife has agreed to the idea of renting a BEV. If given a choice does anyone have a good recommendation if we end up with flexibility? I’m guessing Teslas might be in the mix, we saw a Kia Niro as a possibility though I’d LOVE to get an Ioniq5. Just looking for recommendations if we have choices based on owner experience or possibly others have rented as well. I’m not a huge fan of Model T but if that is the choice I’ll need to play it by ear. Any insights are appreciated.

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

So @SpaceEVDriver has suggested renting and driving BEV to those of us who are newbies. We will be in Texas in April to visit my daughter at college. Likely Houston or Dallas to College station so since we have 1-1/2 or 2-1/2 hour round trips from airport and two days around town at campus my wife has agreed to the idea of renting a BEV. If given a choice does anyone have a good recommendation if we end up with flexibility? I’m guessing Teslas might be in the mix, we saw a Kia Niro as a possibility though I’d LOVE to get an Ioniq5. Just looking for recommendations if we have choices based on owner experience or possibly others have rented as well. I’m not a huge fan of Model T but if that is the choice I’ll need to play it by ear. Any insights are appreciated.

Do you want this to be a visit with your daughter or a learning experience or both? A learning experience often involved stress and unplanned changes to itineraries, etc. Is that something you want on your docket for the couple-few days you’re visiting your daughter?

I would suggest you rent one in your town before April. Rent it for three or four days. Do your normal errands; do a quick trip somewhere far enough away to get the DCFC experience (at least two different networks); charge it overnight at home; play around with the things you would normally be doing at home and near home before you add a potential complication to your visit with your daughter.

Then when you visit your daughter, you’ll have some more experience and will have had some of the learning already done so you won’t have to worry as much and can rent another BEV that will be less about learning and more about just using.

I’m a fan of our Mustang, and I know they are available from some rental companies in some cities.
I like the EV6 and the Ioniq 5.
The Kia Niro is a bit smaller, but you can still fit four adults in it. We rented one in Seattle last year.
If the rental place has a Bolt, that’s also a good one—small but useable. Easy to drive in the city. We have had four people and a wheelchair in it.

You’ll want to double-check with the rental company to be sure they include or that you can add on the proper adapters. You’ll want an AC adapter and a DC adapter. If the adapters aren’t available, you’ll want to make sure you know which chargers are compatible with the vehicle you end up with. Get the PlugShare app. I would also install the EA and brand-T apps since those are the most likely networks you’ll encounter.

 

[J Alynn]

Do you want this to be a visit with your daughter or a learning experience or both? A learning experience often involved stress and unplanned changes to itineraries, etc. Is that something you want on your docket for the couple-few days you’re visiting your daughter?

I would suggest you rent one in your town before April. Rent it for three or four days. Do your normal errands; do a quick trip somewhere far enough away to get the DCFC experience (at least two different networks); charge it overnight at home; play around with the things you would normally be doing at home and near home before you add a potential complication to your visit with your daughter.

Then when you visit your daughter, you’ll have some more experience and will have had some of the learning already done so you won’t have to worry as much and can rent another BEV that will be less about learning and more about just using.

I’m a fan of our Mustang, and I know they are available from some rental companies in some cities.
I like the EV6 and the Ioniq 5.
The Kia Niro is a bit smaller, but you can still fit four adults in it. We rented one in Seattle last year.
If the rental place has a Bolt, that’s also a good one—small but useable. Easy to drive in the city. We have had four people and a wheelchair in it.

You’ll want to double-check with the rental company to be sure they include or that you can add on the proper adapters. You’ll want an AC adapter and a DC adapter. If the adapters aren’t available, you’ll want to make sure you know which chargers are compatible with the vehicle you end up with. Get the PlugShare app. I would also install the EA and brand-T apps since those are the most likely networks you’ll encounter.

Thank you very much sir. Lots to mull over. Great start

 

[THil08]

So @SpaceEVDriver has suggested renting and driving BEV to those of us who are newbies. We will be in Texas in April to visit my daughter at college. Likely Houston or Dallas to College station so since we have 1-1/2 or 2-1/2 hour round trips from airport and two days around town at campus my wife has agreed to the idea of renting a BEV. If given a choice does anyone have a good recommendation if we end up with flexibility? I’m guessing Teslas might be in the mix, we saw a Kia Niro as a possibility though I’d LOVE to get an Ioniq5. Just looking for recommendations if we have choices based on owner experience or possibly others have rented as well. I’m not a huge fan of Model T but if that is the choice I’ll need to play it by ear. Any insights are appreciated.

BMW IX. If you want a luxury vehicle. I had one for the week of Christmas.

 

[R1TVT]

Why not rent an electric truck or SUV (since you are buying a Scout)!

Looks like something like this would be $137 a day: https://turo.com/us/en/suv-rental/united-states/dallas-tx/rivian/r1s/2860657

 

[J Alynn]

Why not rent an electric truck or SUV (since you are buying a Scout)!

Looks like something like this would be $137 a day: https://turo.com/us/en/suv-rental/united-states/dallas-tx/rivian/r1s/2860657

I’ll look around. Learned we are flying into Austin, so I was looking at Houston-need to see what all is around if we choose to gamble it for our first try. Hotel has 6 plug share chargers at 7.6kwh

 

[J Alynn]

.35/kwh so not terrible but gas in Texas is dirt cheap

 

[R1TVT]

I’ll look around. Learned we are flying into Austin, so I was looking at Houston-need to see what all is around if we choose to gamble it for our first try. Hotel has 6 plug share chargers at 7.6kwh

You should have more options in Austin I would imagine. Great city, if you can avoid the traffic!

 

[Mousehunter]

Family has rented a Model 3 and an Ioniq. The later was far more loaded. That said, they were impressed enough with the Model 3.

 

[Logan]

Honestly, I'd try to find a Hyundai Ioniq, or Kia EV of some sort.

One of the things I'd be interested in you testing out, is the different regen modes. Teslas don't have adjustable regen anymore afaik. But on Hyundai/Kia vehicles its just right there on the "paddle shifters". So you can decide if you like low regen, or high regen (one pedal driving).

A lot of the other things that people talk about having with EV's, are things connected to the apps. But with a rental, you won't get those things (and its not like some of them are EV specific, its just come up a lot). And the Ioniqs are very "normal car" in that way. You just get in with your key fob, start/stop it, drive it like normal, and realize "this really is quite normal feeling".

My sister in law visited for Christmas, and didn't realize that she was in an EV until we plugged it into the charger at home .

 

[J Alynn]

Honestly, I'd try to find a Hyundai Ioniq, or Kia EV of some sort.

One of the things I'd be interested in you testing out, is the different regen modes. Teslas don't have adjustable regen anymore afaik. But on Hyundai/Kia vehicles its just right there on the "paddle shifters". So you can decide if you like low regen, or high regen (one pedal driving).

A lot of the other things that people talk about having with EV's, are things connected to the apps. But with a rental, you won't get those things (and its not like some of them are EV specific, its just come up a lot). And the Ioniqs are very "normal car" in that way. You just get in with your key fob, start/stop it, drive it like normal, and realize "this really is quite normal feeling".

My sister in law visited for Christmas, and didn't realize that she was in an EV until we plugged it into the charger at home .

I’d love to find an Ioniq but limited so I’ll keep researching. Would be a good experience