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A brother and sister rented a Tesla and found they had to stop six times in one day to charge it.
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Xaviar Steavenson and his sister Alice drove from Orlando, Florida to Wichita, Kansas.
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They said other customers of rental Teslas have contacted Hertz with similar charging issues.
Xaviar and Alice Steavenson wanted to discover what it was like to drive a Tesla, so they rented one from Hertz for a road trip from Orlando, Florida to Wichita, Kansas.
They knew the electric car would need to be charged en route, but what the siblings didn’t anticipate was how often they would need to plug it in.
They realized it would take longer to ship the car after the weather turned very cold in late December.
However, it has gotten to the point where “the battery will drain faster than it will charge,” Xavier told Insider.
When they do go, they can drive for at least two and a half hours before needing to charge the Tesla. “We ended up having to stop every hour to an hour and a half to charge it for an hour, then an hour and a half, then two hours,” he said.
“After the downtime, it also came to $25-$30 to recharge. In just one day, we stopped six times to charge at that cost,” Xavier said.
Hertz said on its website that renting a Tesla was “always cheaper than gas,” according to Xaviar, but he said that claim could not be further from the truth.
The first time the siblings called Hertz, Xavier said the agent told him he had “nothing but Tesla calls today — I have no idea why they had issues.”
A Hertz spokesperson told Insider, “We haven’t seen a huge increase in communication from customers about their electric rental car battery. However, battery range varies by vehicle manufacturer and can be affected by many factors including weather and driving conditions.”
The Steavensons weren’t alone in having trouble charging their Tesla in freezing weather. a 44-year-old radio presenter, From Lynchburg in eastern Virginia, he told Insider it was 19 degrees (minus 7 degrees Celsius) when he was left stranded just before Christmas because his Model S wouldn’t charge.
Xavier said Hertz told him to go to the nearest branch to get a new car. “However, they don’t have Teslas there or even an equivalent, so I’m back with the Nissan Rogue Sport—at least it’s economical.”
Tesla did not respond to a request for comment from Insider.
Read the original article at Business interested
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