It's hard to think of someone better to go to for an opinion on cars than a rental company. It's not just anecdotal, as they have a large sample size, and also corporate and accounting people who make it their business to do cost analysis
Posted on 01/25/2024 11:18:00 AM PST by Red Badger
The nation’s recent deep freeze stranded many expensive electric vehicles (EVs) with drained batteries, often in front of charging stations equally disabled by the cold. Warmer areas like California, where some 39% of EV car owners reside, do not abuse their batteries with the harsh seasonal winters that threaten many regions of the nation and world. Electric vehicle sales were quite chilly even before the arctic blast, despite price drops and government subsidies. The cold weather troubles reveal why the market for this vaunted technology may continue to cool.
Car Conspiracy
The 2006 documentary “Who Killed the Electric Car?” explored the possibility that government and industry forces conspired to ensure the failure of the prototype electric vehicle of the mid-1990s: the General Motors EV1. EVs may have been viewed as a threat to oil or automaker profits, but automakers claimed the failure of the vehicles to succeed was primarily attributable to a lack of consumer demand. Current public displays of the sharp drop in efficiency of electric batteries in frigid environments will not boost popularity, instead offering yet one more reason for consumers to prefer the traditional gasoline engine.
EVs are relatively expensive, and many remain skeptical that charging stations and electric grids can support them – even in warmer temps. Growing awareness of the pollution generated in the mining of lithium and other materials in EV battery and vehicle manufacturing (and the eventual disposal of non-recyclable batteries) undermines the environment-sparing messaging used to justify the hefty price tag. And then there is “range anxiety.”
Range Anxiety
Range anxiety refers to the understandable concern of consumers that EVs lack the ability of gas-powered cars to travel long distances reliably. Indeed, concerns about vehicles that could, at that time, travel less than 100 miles per charge were likely part of the lack of consumer appeal for GM’s EV1 in the 1990s. Today’s models approach the three-hundred-mile range – until it gets too cold. Car batteries lose energy much faster when the thermometer plummets and the increased energy requirement to keep the driver and passengers warm certainly doesn’t help. It is estimated that sub-freezing temps can reduce EV range by 40% when the heater is on.
Many consumers will hesitate to buy a vehicle in which turning on the heat could leave them stranded on the roadside in life-threatening weather. In the recent cold snap, many EV owners claimed their cars would not charge at all or that charging stations failed to function. And while EV proponents claim gas stations too are vulnerable when the power goes out (and that future EVs will permit charging other vehicles), it is a familiar rescue to Americans when someone pulls a can of gasoline from the back of their truck to get “old-fashioned” motorcars back on their way.
Hertz Rentals launched an ambitious EV car rental program, purchasing 100,000 EVs and installing charging stations for its users. The plan has been back-pedaled as the company recently shed about a third of its EV fleet. Rental customer experience may have a lot to reveal about the broader long-term salability of EVs.
Americans often rent cars for long journeys, perhaps seeking a more reliable vehicle than their personal auto, or to spare it the extra mileage or risk of a far-from-home breakdown. Road trips are part of the American wilderness experience, a la Jack Kerouac. Such journeys tackle long distances over this grand American geography: Many people drive hundreds of miles a day, or even through the night, to reach their vacation or business destination.
Enter the electric vehicle rental. Depending on the departure location, there may or may not be ample charging stations en route. An app or other electronic access is also required before departure in order to use the electric charging stations, as no cash is allowed. The stop will not be a three-minute fill-up with coffee and donuts as in the gas station era, but likely a one-hour affair (if the charging stations are operational and available, and if it’s not sub-freezing). Some technologies (Tesla Superchargers) can accelerate charging times, but it is still far more time-consuming to juice a battery than to simply pump petrol: EV charging stations cannot recharge cars anywhere near as fast as liquid fuel stations.
A traveler hoping to drive 750 miles or more in one day to a family member’s wedding, graduation, funeral, etc., would thus have to make at least two lengthy stops with an electric vehicle rental, making an already-exhausting journey dangerous, perhaps necessitating a hotel and an extra day (or two, if returning) car rental. Better to take a gasoline-powered rig.
Hertz admits as much on its website:
“But if you’re keen to explore the many benefits of driving an electric car – low emissions, a quieter ride, and lower running costs among them – don’t let range anxiety stop you from giving it a go….
“So, while you won’t be able to drive from dawn till dusk, EVs are great for day-to-day driving and multi-stop road trips. Electric cars also offer better efficiency in city settings, thanks to regenerative braking: the ability to build up power reserves when stopping repeatedly.”
Many Americans want to drive from dawn till dusk, or even from dusk till dawn. Hertz also experienced higher repair and tire costs with its EV fleet. Repair costs for bodywork on EVs (especially Teslas) are generally substantially higher than for gas-powered vehicles; EVs go through tires 30% faster. All of these are negative factors not just for car rental companies, but individual American car buyers increasingly concerned about a wobbly economy in an even wobblier election year.
A subconscious instinct against dependency infuses pictures of EVs parked in darkness due to harsh, frigid elements. If there is a time consumers want dependability for their loved ones, it is in times of emergency such as a winter storm. Then there are the many consumers accustomed to the self-reliance of a woodstove or generator, who are also reluctant to relinquish that independence for the techno-enslavement of heat pumps. Like EVs, heat pumps decline in efficiency as temperatures drop. Even with improvements to this problem, there remains a complete dependence upon the electric grid for life-saving warmth. The Boy Scout motto of “Be Prepared” is pretty useless if all one can do is wait for the power to come back on to stave off hypothermia in a home or car.
Like a load of heavy, wet snow on a cheap tin shack, the numerous problems that accompany EVs promise to break the unfulfilled technological promises and dubious climate justifications concocted to prop them up. Winter storms reveal EVs stalled in squalls with dead batteries; summer EV driving threatens California with blackouts. Lithium mining and battery disposal eclipse the claimed environmental benefits of carbon dioxide reduction, and EV subsidies are “inequitably” regressive.
With such a fast-growing list of insurmountable problems, the EV appears to be killing itself.
but Apple will have the iCar in 2028 ,LOL
I’ll always believe that the point was to reduce the number of IC vehicles, and make the rest prohibitively expensive, for many.
There’s “range anxiety” and now we have “EV tire anxiety” — they are lasting 7,000 to 10,000 miles.
Fun historic tidbit: What was the original, first name GM gave the “EV1”?
Hint: It was one of the stupidest names for a car ever.
It has been long known that electric cars have some pretty severe problems in deep cold, and redirect a large portion of their banked power to heat the passengers and the car itself just to maintain function.
I did not know that the chargers quit working in the cold.
Impact...................
Volt
I have a friend who has an EV. She’s very, very proud of it. It is quiet, but she does get range anxiety, as I witnessed first hand. We were traveling on an unfamiliar route for her, and she wanted to make VERY sure we didn’t miss a turn on our way back to her house. I’ve never witnessed her be anxious before that trip.
Another thing I noticed was that she charged her car at one upscale grocery store while she shopped. I couldn’t help but notice how much higher the prices for groceries were there. I guess the other patrons are excited to pay the higher prices so that she can charge her car “for free”.
And that doesnt even begin to touch on the real problems.
I’m not ready to write the epitaph for EVs just yet.
The left keeps pushing them very strongly. Leftists are concentrated in cities. EVs are fine for city driving, where they are unlikely to run low on charge during short commutes (even with city traffic). The leftists who own EVs cannot imagine that anyone has different driving needs than they, so see no reason to not keep pushing EVs.
Of course, if they have their way and EVs become the majority of vehicles on the road, the problem of charging them is going to run head-on into the problem of electricity shortages caused by leftist “environmental” policies. Maybe then, they will realize what a boondoggle they have created—but then again, maybe not. They’ll just blame “greed” as they always do.
What the Left really wants is for the little people to have no access to personal transportation, be it EVs or ICE vehicles.
A general rule of thumb:
Any solution to anything pushed hard by government bureaucrats is going to end up being a boondoggle.
There are occasional exceptions, but they are far and few between.
They will blame it on greed.
They will also launch a new program to ‘fix’ the problems they have caused, usually in a way that causes more problems and abridges our freedoms.
I read an article some years ago about how auto manufacturers work with rental car companies to do market research on new technologies. One guy they interviewed worked for the R&D division of Honda or Toyota and was “loaned” to one of the big car rental companies to work an entry-level customer service job for them while observing the habits of their customers. This guy’s alleged claim to fame was that the industry developed remote key fob trunk and SUV hatch releases based on the research he had done with customers who had no free hands while dragging luggage through airports to car rental lots.
The EV will be a real alternative in the real world when U-Haul switches its entire fleet to EV’s. I have not seen that announcement yet.
“Hint: It was one of the stupidest names for a car ever.:
...the AOC?
Jack Kerouac. What a loser. All he did was write a book about vagrancy. The fantasy of the freedom to wander around doing drugs and having free sex before the days of me too was attractive to a lot of people who had no choice but to work 9 to 5 50 weeks out of the year. My wife does audit books and she finishes every one she starts no matter how crappy. Kerouac was crappy. I listened to part of it with her and was disgusted. He brags about getting by on the largesse of others and stealing to get by. I didn’t stay for the ending.
We don’t know why the chargers weren’t working. We think the cold made them stop. It is possible that they were not turned on. It is possible that the cars were unable to turn them on. Knowing technology, a lot of problems can be determined by being there when the problem is reported. Troubleshooting is a good next step but I don’t think there was any of that going on. The people who could not charge reported that the chargers were not working. Since 50 percent of people are below average intelligence, it stands to reason that 50 percent of EV owners are below average intelligence,therefore 50 percent of charger problems are misdiagnosed.
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