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Electric car rentals start next week
Hertz starts EV car-sharing programs in New York, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. I take the vehicles for a spin — and witness a cameo from the Charmin bear.
Tue, Dec 07 2010 at 3:37 PM
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GREEN WITH ENVY: Tesla's EV at the Hertz party. (Photo: Jim Motavalli)
TIMES SQUARE — Everybody wants me to drive their electric cars these days. Pouring rain kept me away from a nice ride-and-drive opportunity with the New York Power Authority, which wanted to showcase a healthy and growing fleet, and Monday I made it down to Times Square to take a spin in the green cars that, as of next week will be available in the Connect by Hertz car-sharing fleets. That’s right. Next week. Electric car rentals — first in New York, followed by Washington and San Francisco. (London and maybe Beijing will be next in line.)
Company reps hand me the keys as if I’m about to have the thrill of a lifetime, but of course I’ve driven every electric vehicle by now, many of them multiple times. The Tesla Roadster I’ve driven probably five times, and on more than one coast. (I did a video about one Tesla drive in Manhattan.) But it’s always great fun to drive this $109,000 high-voltage shock wagon. I love the Tesla, even in Times Square, where instead of dodging prostitutes, you try to avoid out-of-town Broadway patrons and the Charmin bear. (More on that below.)
In big traffic, the Tesla is stop-start: You find a miraculously clear avenue and sprint down it, only to jam on the brakes a few seconds later, but it’s exhilarating. Hertz is going to make the Tesla Roadster (and presumably the Model S) available only to prestige-collection rental customers for $100 a day.
The Nissan Leaf will be $7 an hour in the car-sharing program, according to Hertz Global EV Leader Jack Hidary. I’ve driven the Leaf in Manhattan before, courtesy of Nissan — a memorable fast run through Central Park. This time I took it through the theater district, turning heads all the way. The Leaf is impressive, quiet, comfortable, sophisticated, and bristling with high-tech aids to help with charging and plug-in connectivity. It handles excellently, as I found out when I was steering around rickshaws and bicycle messengers.
I’ve driven Coda sedans on both coasts, too, and this one was resplendent in two-tone white and black. The Coda, which has been delayed until the second half of 2011, is still a work in progress, meaning that the company hasn’t gotten through crash testing yet. Spokesman Matt Sloustcher said Coda is going for a four- or five-star New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) rating, which it plans to have in place by next year.
The Coda isn’t as cutting-edge cool as the Leaf, though it does look good with the black wheels that Sloustcher said customers preferred in a survey. It’s also more expensive than the $32,790 Leaf at nearly $44,000. Its two selling points are an extended battery range of 120 miles rather than 100, and onboard battery heating and cooling, which should extend the life of the pack.
Coda has been doing fairly well with fleet sales, since the Hertz deal complements another with Enterprise Rent-a-Car, and Sloustcher told me that 30 to 50 percent of sales could be to corporations and governments. (The first charging station in my hometown of Norwalk, Conn., is in a municipal parking garage — put in not by a homeowner but by the town.)
I had a quick spin in the Coda, and it accelerates well, although it's a bit noisier than the Leaf. Coda has added two-tone leather seats, which is a nice touch to an interior that needed brightening up.
Hertz has a pair of charging stations at Connect offices in Manhattan, and is partnering with Starwood Hotels, which is installing stations at the snazzy new Element Times Square hotel, and soon at other Starwood Aloft, Element and Four Points by Sheraton hotels. The idea is that you’ll stay at an Element, suddenly need a car for a night out, and there will be the cutting-edge electric cars available for a first-time trial.I mentioned the Charmin bear earlier. Charmin had set up what appeared to be a 10-hole privy station on 42nd Street, which came in handy after a long walk across town. The dancing bear was the “no pieces left” guy from the TV ads. Here he is in all his glory, egged on by some mega-enthusiastic Charmin “partners.”
Let’s hope those "associates" were making more than minimum wage, but as fearsome 2010 comes to an end, anybody working at all should be praised.
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I tried the Hertz website today and called several locations, nobody seems to have a list or clue where I can drive such a car. Must have been a short marketing gag.
Is this article about the Global Warming scam?
Most new electricity are generated by natural gas and wind. Natural gas generates much less carbon dioxide than oil and it is produced domestically, not imported as oil.
Sorry VeryOld Man, but coal is the most common fuel for generating electricity in the United States. In 2009, 45% of the Country's nearly 4 trillion kilowatthours of electricity used coal as its source of energy. 23% is used by natural gas. This is from www.eia.doe.gov.
This is a perfect way for consumers to take an EV for more than just a test drive. It's going to help EVs get to the mainstream.
How can the rental companies have electric cars that aren't even available from the dealers yet?
Think about it. People interested in these types of cars would be more apt to rent one. More on the street, more are seen, more word gets out. Then when the cars hit the dealership you already have people that have experienced the cars and are geniunely interested buyers.
1. Times square is "midtown". Downtown is several miles away.
2. The prostitutes cleared out of Times Square years ago. It's Bankers and Disney now.
3. I am far more scared of driving in Houston or DC than I am Manhattan. I have also seen more car wrecks in a single week in Austin than I've seen in 6 years in New York.
I live in Connecticut, so any part of New York is "down," ie, south, for me.
I live in Connecticut, so any part of New York is "down," ie, south, for me.
I would love to take part in this program! This is what we really need in the Atlanta Metro area.
I would love to take part in this program! This is what we really need in the Atlanta Metro area.
With the amount these will probably cost to rent, I'd just go with the Mercedes. No offense Greenpeace.
This is a great way to get people interested in electric vehicles. Unlike buying, renting is accessible to everyone. If these ever come to Chicago, I'll rent one for a day. I'd trade my Crossfire for one of these in a heartbeat. This would be insanely cheap to maintain once "they" figure out how to lease and refurbish batteries. Who cares about green? Unlike fossil fuels, electricity is super cheap and I don't have to give nearly as much money to oil companies or OPEC nations. Win-win.
people in Chicago/Boise/Miami want this stuff too. And driving in NYC is too dangerous anyway!
...of test driving these first....but what happens if you run out of gas (so to speak) and you're not near the Hertz place?
All the new electrics are designed to be chargeable (albeit slowly) by plugging them into any 110v. outlet. An hour or two emergency charge won't fill the battery pack...but it'll be enough to get you to a charging station, or a decent parking place, or maybe even home.
You call a wrecker when your electric vehicle runs out of juice, if there is no where to plug it in. It's not like they can bring you an Energizer to top it off for you.
Um, yes they bring a portable generator instead of a gas can or once the battery cells are standardized they just bring a replacement cell.