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Comment by toomuchtodo | Hacker News Reader

> Hertz wanted it back with 80% charge or they'd bill us

Can you share what the cost was so I can complain to someone at Hertz? I think it's reasonable if they charge for fast charging the vehicle upon return, but it shouldn't be extortionate. Should be what a fast DC charge would be (~$15-$25) so they can cover equipment and energy costs to quick turnaround the vehicle for the next renter.

One of the benefits of EVs is that electricity is somewhat ubiquitous (including airport rental facility parking garages), so it's not great UX when an auto rental company is incentivizing customers to chase down fast charging at the last minute before return vs just topping cars up when returned.

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I pulled up the receipt; I don't actually remember the battery level when we dropped it off - I think it was about 45-50% ... looks like they charged £15.71 + VAT for the shortfall.

Frankly, if I'd known it would be so reasonable I would not have bothered and spent an extra hour and a half in the Cathay First Class lounge.

Appreciate the time, I will get your feedback to the right folks.

FWIW as a current EV owner (and have been for some time w/ Tesla) trying to make sure to charge to 80% like that before returning the vehicle or face a fee would stress me out to the point I'd probably rent a gas-powered car just to avoid that.

Exact same car, but same company on the other side of the world. But the same experience. EV charging is cheap so you just pay for "service" that they're probably doing by default anyway.

Rental car companies typically charge 3-4 times the street price per gallon to fill up your gas car. They don't like people returning cars low on gas as then they have to pay someone to drive to a local gas station. Having fuel pumps means expensive EPA permits (or whatever agency in your country ensures they don't pollute) and a lot of safety systems - better to let a real gas station handle that.. So I would expect their prices are unreasonable just because of tradition.

Of course electricity is something they already have, and in theory it should be a lot easier for them to handle chargers. However it is still new to them and they don't have it yet.

They actually subverted my expectations here - the extortionate gas pricing was very much in my mind and I was bracing myself to pay maybe four times what I actually paid.

The avis agency I use has its own fast-charging point out in front. I've yet to rent an EV so I've no idea what their requirements are when giving it back, but them recharging a car is literally just parking it and plugging it in.

> Rental car companies typically charge 3-4 times the street price per gallon to fill up your gas car.

Not my experience with Enterprise brands or Avis Budget brands in the last 15 years. It might be 10 cents or 20 cents more per gallon, but nothing extortionate. The convenience of not having to worry about filling up your gas while on vacation or business is well worth it to me for the small premium I might pay.

A couple of weeks ago I rented an electric car from Enterprise in the US and they told me to not worry what the charge level was when I dropped it off, they'd just charge it overnight.

I returned it with ~4 miles left

> Can you share what the cost was so I can complain to someone at Hertz?

Its a change of policy at Hertz.

Until recently Hertz were "bring it back anywhere over 10%".

Now you are given two choices at the counter:

    - Bring it back >=80% or we'll charge you
    - Pay a fee in advance (generally somewhere around 30USD) and you can bring it back >=10%.

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