bcc: various Here near Tucson, there are none for rent at any price. No Prius Plug-ins or C-Max Energi or Fusion Energi or Volts. Nothing from Enterprise or Avis or Hertz. Nada.
Since I got a Nissan Leaf, I have spent a lot of money renting gasoline cars whether here or when traveling. I always ask for a PHEV and never get one. I then work my way down to a HEV and sometimes am able to get one. We do not seem to be moving with any urgency toward making just a few PHEVs available for rent in many of the markets that don't have those vehicles for rent. I am wondering if others who follow EV issues are studying or focusing on this matter. The company executives are professional when you speak with them, but the excuse-making is, in my fallible view, somewhat reminiscent of the excuse-making of the automakers circa 2001. One reason from Enterprise that I have heard is that they take what is made available to them by the auto companies and so this is a contributing reason there are no Volts available for rent in my area, but there are Nissan Leafs available for rent in my area. If (for the sake of discussion) there is truth to this, then how hard are they really trying to make GM and other auto OEMS aware they'd be interested in some Volts and other PHEVs? And how hard are GM and other auto OEMs trying to place Volts and other PHEVs into the major rental fleets throughout the country? I think some rental agencies would express concern about BEVs regarding customer range issues and even some customers being stranded. I'd say if they *really* have those concerns, then surely they must be aware that PHEVs are a great answer to that type of concern, and so why not start renting them out today? _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org For EV drag racing discussion, please use NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
