Are you interested in electrical automobiles however not prepared to purchase one? Renting one may help you see what it’s like — and a few automotive rental corporations are providing reductions.

However having a easy electrical automobile expertise, particularly if you happen to hire for trip, requires a good quantity of planning as a result of fast-charging stations, whereas extra out there than they had been four years ago, nonetheless aren’t ubiquitous, like fuel stations.

For now, an E.V. may go finest for an extended weekend or a visit the place you propose to remain in a single place and take day excursions, quite than an epic coast-to-coast trek.

“A cross-country highway journey?” mentioned Damon Bell, senior analysis editor at Automobiles.com, a web based vehicle market. “It may be completed, however you’re making issues a bit of trickier.”

Most E.V. homeowners set up particular electrical shops at house that enable them to cost their automobiles in a single day so that they don’t have to fret a lot about discovering public charging stations. However if you happen to hire an E.V. for a visit, you’ll wish to map out the situation of stations alongside routes you count on to journey.

There at the moment are about 70,000 public charging stations with 186,000 ports, or stalls — the E.V. equal of fuel pumps — throughout the nation, in response to the federal authorities. However they’re not uniformly distributed. Quick chargers — which might juice up a battery in minutes, quite than hours — are usually focused on the East and West Coasts and in components of Texas.

Greg Brannon, director of automotive engineering and business relations on the vehicle homeowners group AAA, mentioned driving an E.V. on an prolonged highway journey could improve the time you’ll be within the automotive by 20 to 30 %. That’s since you’ll want to seek out chargers and wait until the battery is charged. In high-demand areas, you’ll have to attend in line for a fast-charging port to grow to be out there.

“E.V.s don’t work very nicely on lengthy highway journeys,” he mentioned, notably in case you are renting a automotive apart from a Tesla, which has essentially the most expansive community of fast chargers. (Some non-Tesla automobiles, like Fords and Rivians, can use some Tesla Supercharger stations, however solely with a particular charging adapter that’s not extensively out there. Main E.V. producers, nonetheless, are rolling out automobiles appropriate with Tesla stations beginning with the 2025 mannequin 12 months, in response to Shopper Studies.)

The median E.V. vary is now about 270 miles per cost, though the vary is dependent upon the kind of battery, highway situations, temperature and your driving model. Extremely popular or very chilly climate can have an effect on the vary. And in contrast to fuel automobiles, which usually get extra miles per gallon in freeway driving, E.V.s could have lowered vary on freeways, Mr. Brannon mentioned, due to the best way the automobiles function.

Planning out your route and figuring out charging stations earlier than you hit the highway can tamp down “vary anxiousness,” the fear about depleting the battery. Numerous apps, together with PlugShare, may help you discover public charging stations.

If such complexities don’t deter you, now could also be a very good time to strive an E.V., since some corporations are providing offers to encourage leases. The large rental corporations have had some ups and downs with E.V.s. Hertz, as an illustration, mentioned this 12 months that it will scale back its fleet of electrical automobiles as a result of they misplaced worth extra rapidly than projected and demand was decrease than anticipated. Hertz mentioned in an e mail that it supplied resources to assist educate new E.V. drivers and supplied a number of fashions at charges akin to gasoline-powered automobiles.

I rented an E.V. with my husband over the three-day Memorial Day weekend within the Boston space. On the metropolis’s airport, one rental firm (Funds) was providing a 50 % low cost to renters who switched their reservation from a standard automotive to an E.V. In a press release, Funds mentioned, “We discover that E.V. leases are most engaging to clients who’ve the power to plan for charging all through their journey.”

I had already reserved an E.V. on-line, so I didn’t qualify for the half-price deal, the client consultant mentioned. Even so, my charge wasn’t dangerous for an airport rental on a busy vacation weekend — about $89 a day, together with the myriad charges and money again on an Amazon reward card, beneath a cope with Funds.

The primary automotive we had been supplied, a Kia, lacked a primary charging cable. So we requested for one more automotive and got a Chevrolet Bolt, which had one. We deliberate to do a minimum of some charging by plugging it into a conventional outlet on the house the place we had been staying. However as we rapidly realized, such “Stage 1” charging is painfully sluggish — you get only a few miles of vary for an hour of charging.

We discovered an Electrify America cost station close to an area mall that had 4 ports. Two had been quick chargers (the others had been slower however serviceable ports, the place charging the automotive would have taken greater than an hour). One quick charger was out there after we confirmed up on a Friday afternoon. The automotive was charged to 83 % in about half-hour at a price of $6.72, together with tax. (That was a pleasant change from a typical $50 tab to replenish my fuel automotive.) We paid with a bank card. Some charging networks provide reductions if you happen to create an account utilizing their apps, and a few places value extra at peak occasions.

The go to went easily. Nonetheless, half an hour is completely different from filling up your fuel tank in 5 minutes.

Driving the automotive was enjoyable. E.V.s are quiet and peppy as a result of their design permits them to speed up rapidly. One distinction that took some getting used to was the automotive’s “regenerative” braking, a characteristic frequent in E.V.s and hybrid automobiles that feeds vitality again to the battery when the automotive slows, boosting its vary a bit.

In follow, this implies the automotive rapidly loses velocity whenever you take your foot off the accelerator so that you not often have to make use of the brake pedal. (It’s additionally why E.V.s have much less vary with freeway driving. There’s usually much less braking.)

We favored the automotive sufficient to order one for an extended interval, later in the summertime, at an off-airport Funds location. Renting there — and paying upfront — labored out to about $31 per day for a late June/early July rental.

Listed below are some questions and solutions about renting an E.V.:

Do I’ve to return the E.V. totally charged?

Sometimes, rental corporations offer you the automotive charged at 70 % or extra and require that you simply deliver it again on the similar stage. When you deliver it again beneath that stage, it’s possible you’ll pay a price. (Funds fees $35.)

Do motels and Airbnb leases provide E.V. charging?

Hotels more and more provide free charging as a perk, however name forward to substantiate that the chargers are working. Airbnb says searches on its web site for properties with chargers grew greater than 80 % from 2022 to 2023. The corporate just lately introduced a partnership with ChargePoint, a charging community, to supply hosts reductions to put in E.V. chargers.

Do I’ve to stick with the E.V. whereas it’s charging?

Most community cellular apps provide you with a warning when the automotive is sort of charged so you may go away to, say, get a espresso or a fast meal and return when the automotive is prepared. It pays to plan your stops at chargers which can be near eating places or different companies.

However don’t dawdle. When you fail to maneuver the automotive as soon as the battery is sufficiently charged, it’s possible you’ll face “idle time” charges meant to discourage customers from hogging ports when different automobiles are ready.