Hi Bruce - Thanks for poking around a bit. It's more effort than some have made. I've been on this for about 6-9 months, but I can't seem to get much traction with others on this one.
Tucson is not specifically the issue. The issue is the lack of PHEV availability for rental in many (if not nearly all) locations. In Tucson I can rent a Leaf here from Enterprise, and I have rented HEVs from both Enterprise and Hertz. We can't rent PHEVs here, but that does not make Tucson particularly unique. This was announced by Enterprise in 2011: http://green.autoblog.com/2011/01/07/enterprise-rent-a-car-chevy-volt-rental/ > >Jan. 6, 2011 (St. Louis) Enterprise Rent-A-Car announced >today that it will be the first to offer Chevrolet Volt extended-range >electric vehicles (EVs) for daily and weekly rentals later this month. So, where are they? This is from Avis: https://www.avis.com/car-rental/content/display.ac?contentId=volt-US_en-025575 >TERMS AND CONDITIONS >Volt is available at participating locations in CA, TX, MI, NY, NJ, CT and DC. >Quantities limited. So, where are they? Has anyone followed up to see how it's going for Avis? I spent a few hours calling around to various agencies in Tucson or NYC or Rhode Island/MA area last summer, I didn't seem to have any luck. There was one Volt for rent on an hourly program somewhere in Connecticut through Hertz. Wowee. Most or all of the reasons I've heard for the lack of availability of any PHEV rentals in most areas sound to me like real nonsense excuse-making, sometimes reminiscent of the mealy-mouthed stuff we heard from the automakers circa 1997-2003. The matter is exacerbated for some of us who are BEV drivers who do not have a second car. As a Leaf driver with no second car, I am renting more often than I used to because sometimes I do not have time to make an inter-city journey in my Leaf. In those cases, I always ask for a PHEV and I always get turned down. The matter is also brought to the fore by the comments of rental agencies that the limited range of BEVs makes renting a BEV a difficult proposition. A PHEV would (obviously) be a nearly perfect answer to that type of problem, since it has no range issues and is still a plug-in vehicle for those who want to make use of that aspect. So, if the rental agencies supposedly care about the range issue and about increasing their business, and if they supposedly want to try and rent out Plug-ins, why don't they rent out PHEVs? It is often at that point that we will see a bit of confusion come up amongst rental agency discussion participants, conflating BEVs and PHEVs. How convenient. How many years are they going to keep invoking confusion as to the difference.... particularly when PHEVs are a nearly perfect response to the range issue that is such a drawback for BEV rentals? The rental agencies are getting away with touting their green credentials and they are getting away with saying that they rent out PHEVs, but in too many areas they are refusing to stock PHEVs or rent them out. PHEV manufacturers (at present, primarily Ford, Toyota, Chevy) are by-and-large getting away with saying that they are trying hard to sell PHEVs, but from what little I can tell, they do not seem to me to be trying very hard to sell to the rental agencies. Something is not kosher. I say: stop the excuses and just make PHEVs widely available for rent. On Mon, 21 Oct 2013 21:15:22 -0700, Bruce EVangel Parmenter <[email protected]> wrote: >Hmm ... in the last couple days there have been some newswires stating >no one wants to rent an EV for long, as they return it for a pih/phev.. >I discounted those as just more paid anti-plugin agenda pieces. > > >Looking at Tucson Enterprise >http://www.enterprise.com/car_rental/worldLocationCreateRes.do;jsessionid=yM88Sl0BjnrJ0QkP17cxG3NqPssvtZWhvySvgjL2TX95l1LZV21L!1992591381 > >Yup, they are behind the curve compared to other offices. Checking all >the Tucson offices, none of the them offer pih (I did not see even a >hev). > >Looking at the competition ... > >https://www.hertz.com/rentacar/vehicleguide/index.jsp?targetPage=vehicleGuideHomeView.jsp&countryCode=US&category=Green%20Traveler%20Collection > >Supposedly they offer plugins and hevs, but looking at their Tucson >offices, nope (you're sol). > >Looking at >http://www.enterprise.com/car_rental/hybridOfferedCities.do > >sez only certain offices offer plugins. > >Doing a search with keywords tucson rental hybrid >brings up several other rental companies. > >One was Budget, but they also only talk a mean game >https://www.budget.com/budgetWeb/reservation/bridge.ex?PICKUP_DATE=22&PICKUP_MONTH_YEAR=201310&PICKUP_TIME=1200&DROPOFF_DATE=23&DROPOFF_MONTH_YEAR=201310&DROPOFF_TIME=1200&IN=0076182C&PICKUP_LOC=TUS&DROPOFF_LOC=&PICKUP_FIELD=Tucson+Intl+Airport%2C+Arizona+-+TUS&DROPOFF_FIELD=&discountNumber=&resForm.couponCode= > >Looks like Tucson is one of those dead zones where you are stuck renting >an ice. But don't feel too bad. While the rental companies talk a mean >game touting themselves as green and offering them, as we can see, its >is mostly hype. Many customers will have a difficult time renting a >plugin or hev from these rental companies. It will depend on if you are >lucky enough to live in an area that has 'one' green vehicle. > > >{brucedp.150m.com} > > > > >On Mon, Oct 21, 2013, at 02:20 PM, murdoch wrote: >> 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) >> _______________________________________________ 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)
