This discussion makes me wonder if they just used a 120V outlet to trickle charge it and there simply wasn’t enough time between rentals.
It seems to me that to rent EVs properly a company needs to either:
1) invest in an L2 charger for every EV and plan on enough time between rentals
Or
2) invest in a modest DC charger (25kW or so ought to do it) and put the car on the charger if needed (less than 80% charged)
Either should work for a smaller location. I’m not sure how they would handle a large city with lots of quick turnover.
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Grizzle-e has a small single phase Commercial 25KW (Needs a ~150A Circuit, uses a little under 110A@240v) well under $20K. Return,clean,plug-in. Should charge in < 3 hours. They likely have 3-phase available at the location, so you could probably put several 50KW stations up without too much difficulty. You don't really need that many, and an hour post-cleaning would likely be more than enough for most returns to be over 80% with just 50KW.
I specifically rented an EV from Hertz in Sacremento, totally loved it. Happened to be a free Volta abut 1/2mi from my Hotel, but I 'plugshared alternatives just in case, and I have an EA and EVGO account. They were trying to foist a Tesla on me, apparently someone had grabbed my NiroEV literally starting to drive out just before me, who was clueless. . ., and vacated the vehicle at the exit gate, so I grabbed it. I told the guy there, I didn't know anything about charging a Tesla, and I was not prepared to figure it out cold, but that I owned a NiroEV, and traveled with it not infrequently. I'm sure I could have found a supercharger or destination station somewhere, but I'd already plotted for CCS. Once NACS is the standard it won't matter.
The problem is you can't just foist an EV on someone unsuspecting, nor should you be renting one to someone who is not familiar unless it's like a local rental where someone wants to try it out or something. It was totally unclear on how I was supposed to return the car. I was told, "Just bring it back with at least 70% charge I guess". OK, sure, no problem. If you want to rent an EV, you need to have an education/verification page, and you need to park the EV's in dedicated spaces so during the 'grab whatever is there' times people are not hopping in them unbeknownst. I would put a simple paper sign on the steering wheel "Electric Vehicle, if you don't know what you are getting into you might want something else" kind of thing.
I think it's great they offer EV's but I think they (the rental company) needs to have an agreement with EA or EVGO or whatever and just make it an add-on for a nominal fee (Like a fuel purchase option), or frankly just include it. Most of these cars sell to consumers with "Free Electricity" from one of the charging outfits for like a year or something. Renting apparently you are "on your own". They should REALLY have, again, a printed page, with charging stations, and/or agreements, or maybe a card/code you get with the vehicle. Tesla chargers know the car. CCS needs to be the same way, you rent from Herts, you go to EA (or whoever) plug in, it recognizes the car, and starts charging. Ditto if you are renting a Tesla.
I rented the NiroEV just to see what the experience would be. It was a win for me, I loved the car, despite the fact that they swapped sides on the steering wheel buttons which drove me nuts, but I knew exactly what I was getting into, and I ended up returning it with a 90% charge. My Ex-wife rented a Tesla here in town, asked me if she could use my home charger before turning it in. I had to say probably not unless she had a J1772 to Tesla adapter and 6 to 8 hours. It's just nuts, fortunately she had the sense to ask, and there are at least 3 supercharging stations within 15 miles of the airport, which was the sane solution. But why on earth . . . the people at Hertz had NO IDEA how that worked. I also asked when they tried to give me a Tesla: "Can I just plug in an use a credit card at the station, or do I have to register and download the app?" . . . Crickets.
YMMV,
