Electric car hire abroad

[maccboy]

I need to go to Spain for a week in January. Has anybody on here hired an electric car (from Alicante airport)? I was wondering if you get a granny charging cable with it. It would be a lot easier than messing about with the refueling Full/Empty/Refund malarkey - and cheaper - but I'd need a charging cable. I haven't found any sites that mention whether there is one or not.

[gotoPzero]

99% of cars all use the same type of connectors, so you just plug in the public charger and thats it?

If you are saying you want to charge privately, i.e at your accommodation then you would need a charger. I am going to guess its 50/50 if there is one in the boot. I bet they go walkies a lot!!

[maccboy]

I'm not going to be doing many miles so I'd like to be able to charge it from a domestic socket.

[fourstardan]

Went through this rigmarole in France last year.

Charger was included but we just found supermarkets or charging points where you plug in, you'll be on holiday so you'll be wanting a super charger.

Make sure the car has super charging as well (22kw I think from memory).

Also, work out where the charging points will be when on the local journeys, it'll save wasting time in a possible busy location.

[gotoPzero]

Honestly unless there is some reason (and I say this as someone who has owned EVs for over 5 years) there isnt much point in an EV on holiday unless there is some real reason like LEZ or something that you cant get round.

Its a hassle to charge, takes longer to charge, will almost certainly cost more to hire, etc etc.

I dont see the point in going out of your way to get an EV.

[Jazoli]

gotoPzero said:

Honestly unless there is some reason (and I say this as someone who has owned EVs for over 5 years) there isnt much point in an EV on holiday unless there is some real reason like LEZ or something that you cant get round.

Its a hassle to charge, takes longer to charge, will almost certainly cost more to hire, etc etc.

I dont see the point in going out of your way to get an EV.

Agreed when I looked earlier this year the EV had to be returned with at least 80% charge, I just got a petrol car instead which you can fill up a couple of miles from the airport.

[essayer]

gotoPzero said:

Honestly unless there is some reason (and I say this as someone who has owned EVs for over 5 years) there isnt much point in an EV on holiday unless there is some real reason like LEZ or something that you cant get round.

Its a hassle to charge, takes longer to charge, will almost certainly cost more to hire, etc etc.

I dont see the point in going out of your way to get an EV.

Agree, unless you have guaranteed charging where you are staying, it’ll probably be more expensive to run an EV than some economical petrol

[maccboy]

Thanks everyone. Cost-wise, it's only €4 more for electric for the six days. I'm not going any great distance in it (it's only 15 miles from the airport to the villa). I was thinking I'd just charge it from the mains on the last day and drop it back. The petrol option seems a lot more trouble, with a 'refueling supplement' of €25 - €35 - and fuel on top.

[Sheepshanks]

maccboy said:

Thanks everyone. Cost-wise, it's only €4 more for electric for the six days. I'm not going any great distance in it (it's only 15 miles from the airport to the villa). I was thinking I'd just charge it from the mains on the last day and drop it back. The petrol option seems a lot more trouble, with a 'refueling supplement' of €25 - €35 - and fuel on top.

The only reasons I've heard of for people taking EV hire cars was because they were MUCH cheaper, or the hire company claimed it was all they had.

[soxboy]

I arranged to hire a Fiat 500e earlier this year, not only because it was the same price as the petrol car but also because I was flying back late Sunday and I didn’t want to rely on Spanish petrol stations being open at that time.

At the rental desk (OK, Malaga airport) they said it needed to be returned 70% charged, and even though I was just using the car as a transfer from the airport to Marbella and back there was no way it could do the job without charging. So I upgraded to a Cupra Born, and even then that just made it back on 70%.

As I arrived at the airport there was a petrol station open. I also didn’t see any chargers on my travels.

Even though I have an EV at home it’s not a hassle on holiday that I need.

[fourstardan]

I went for EV when abroad because it was the cheaper deal....but spent more on Electric than a Diesel I had for the latest holiday (that was longer).

If driving into a LEZ yes, go for it, but OP I'd honestly just go with ICE and make your life easier.

Not sure how good the Spanish infra is yet as well, France had good charging points but they were always busy or not working.

[RizzoTheRat]

Jazoli said:

Agreed when I looked earlier this year the EV had to be returned with at least 80% charge, I just got a petrol car instead which you can fill up a couple of miles from the airport.

It's worth looking at the specific rental company's policy and local charge point prices. I rented a Polestar 2 from Hertz at Gatwick a while ago and thier policy is so long as you return it with more than 20% charge, they charge you to top it up but at a lower rate per KW that the fast chargers at a motorway services cost, so I just returned it with about 50% and let them charge it.

[andy43]

maccboy said:

Thanks everyone. Cost-wise, it's only €4 more for electric for the six days. I'm not going any great distance in it (it's only 15 miles from the airport to the villa). I was thinking I'd just charge it from the mains on the last day and drop it back. The petrol option seems a lot more trouble, with a 'refueling supplement' of €25 - €35 - and fuel on top.

Sounds like you're looking at the wrong hire company. I use Zest and only pick hire companies that do 'return with the same amount of fuel' policies.
We've had an EV for nearly 10 years and I'd always go ICE for a hire car.

[soxboy]

andy43 said:

maccboy said:

Thanks everyone. Cost-wise, it's only €4 more for electric for the six days. I'm not going any great distance in it (it's only 15 miles from the airport to the villa). I was thinking I'd just charge it from the mains on the last day and drop it back. The petrol option seems a lot more trouble, with a 'refueling supplement' of €25 - €35 - and fuel on top.

Sounds like you're looking at the wrong hire company. I use Zest and only pick hire companies that do 'return with the same amount of fuel' policies.
We've had an EV for nearly 10 years and I'd always go ICE for a hire car.

Good point, OP did you filter your search for ‘Full/ Full’ fuel policy?

I wouldn’t assume a hire car came with an equivalent of a 3-pin charging lead. You also have to assume the car comes with 100% charge on collection - I must admit with mine I forgot to check and only realised that it was 94% when I was joining the motorway.

[LuS1fer]

I'm not sure I'd be plugging any EV into dodgy Spanish domestic electric sockets.

If I was offered a hire EV, I'd politely decline.

[Sheepshanks]

LuS1fer said:

I'm not sure I'd be plugging any EV into dodgy Spanish domestic electric sockets.

I was thinking that, too. Plus it would need to be a higher power socket. What are the chances of being able to get close enough? So then the OP has to buy an extension and using that makes the set-up even more dodgy.

[gotoPzero]

maccboy said:

The petrol option seems a lot more trouble

Its not, trust me. The EV is way, way more hassle.

maccboy said:

I was thinking I'd just charge it from the mains on the last day and drop it back.

Well, depending how much you used it and what SOC you had at the start you might want to plan ahead as you normally you will need a considerable time to charge if its even remotely a large battery you might be talking 2 days on a granny charger from say 20% to 80%.

What happens when it wont charge, or says 3 days to full.... then you have to go round looking for a charger. Then down load the app. Then register you credit card. Then plug it in to find the credit card wont authorise. Then go and find another charger.. download their app... etc etc.

Its fine if it all works ok, but I would not risk it in another country, language issues, payment issues etc. Nah. 50 euros on petrol in 3 mins and call it a day.

[Griffith4ever]

soxboy said:

Good point, OP did you filter your search for ‘Full/ Full’ fuel policy?

I wouldn’t assume a hire car came with an equivalent of a 3-pin charging lead. You also have to assume the car comes with 100% charge on collection - I must admit with mine I forgot to check and only realised that it was 94% when I was joining the motorway.

All my car hires in the EU have ALWAYS been full-full, Refueling supplements etc are for if you return it not full. There is always a petrol station near every airport I've ever been to. Near enough that you'd not move the fuel gaugue down getting back to teh depot.

Its never a "hassle".

[gotoPzero]

Its been a long long time since I have not had a full tank in a hire car.
Full to full is pretty standard.

What I normally do is fill the tank the day before I fly home when I am passing a petrol station.
Then on the way to the airport fill it again usually only a gallon or so.

With google maps its so easy to do, was much more tricky 20+ years ago!!