Xaviar and Alice Steavenson wanted to know what it was like to drive a Teslaso they rented one at Hertz to take a road trip from Orlando, Florida to Wichita, Kansas.
They knew that the electric car would need to be charged during the journey, but what the brothers did not expect was how often they would need to plug it in. They realized that it would take longer to load the car in the cold which he did at the end of December.
However, there came a time when “the battery discharged faster than it charged,” Xaviar tells Business Insider.
When they got out they could drive for at least 2 1/2 hours before having to charge the Tesla. “We end up having to stop every hour or hour and a half to charge for an hour, then an hour and a half, then 2 hours,” she explains.
“So beyond the loss of time, the time also came when reloading it cost between 25 and 30 dollars. Just in one day we stopped 6 times to bear that cost“, assures Xaviar.
Hertz said on its website that renting a Tesla was “always cheaper than gasoline,” according to Xaviar, but he maintains that claim is far from true.
The first time the brothers called Hertz, Xaviar recounts that the agent told him that “today I had nothing but calls from Tesla; I have no idea why.” have problems“.
A Hertz spokesperson told Business Insider that “we have not experienced a significant increase in customer communication about the battery in their EV rentals. However, the battery autonomy Varies by vehicle manufacturer and can be influenced by multiple factorssuch as weather and driving conditions.”
The Steavensons weren’t the only ones who experienced the Tesla’s charging problem when it got really cold. A 44-year-old radio host from Lynchburg, eastern Virginia, told Business Insider that it was 19 degrees (-7 C) when he got stranded just before Christmas because his Model S did not load.
Xaviar explains that Hertz told him that went to the nearest branch to get a new car. “However, they don’t have Teslas there, not even the equivalent, so I go back in a Nissan Rogue Sport, at least it’s cheap.”
Tesla has not wanted to make statements about it Business Insider.