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Xaviar Steavenson and his sister Alice recently decided to rent a Tesla to drive from Florida to Wichita, Kansas. Along the way, they had to stop six times in just one day to recharge their rental because, according to Steavenson, the battery was draining “faster than it would charge.”
Business Insider reports that Steavenson indicated that initially, he was driving 2 ½ hours before recharging. However, he said he and his sister “ended up having to stop every one to 1 ½ hours to charge for an hour, then an hour and a half, then two hours.”
Steavenson pointed out that it “was between $25 and $30 to recharge,” then said that in only one day, he and sister Alice “stopped six times to charge at that cost.” He added that Hertz‘s website states that renting a Tesla is “always cheaper than gas” — something he said wasn’t true for him.
Steavenson reportedly said a Hertz agent told him the company had “no idea why they’re having issues.” He also claimed the agent said they’d received “nothing but Tesla calls” that day.
Contacted by Insider for comment, a Hertz rep said the company had “not experienced a significant increase in communication from customers about the battery of their EV rentals.” However, “battery range varies by vehicle manufacturer and can be influenced by multiple factors including weather and driving conditions.”
According to Steavenson, Hertz recommended he pick up a new ride at the closest branch. So he did, but said the location didn’t “have Teslas there or not even the equivalent,” so he was returning home “in a Nissan Rogue Sport.”
Business Insider noted another report from a Virginia radio host who said he was stranded after his Model S would not properly charge at 19 degrees Fahrenheit — the same host featured in a New York Post breakdown published on Dec. 29, 2022, about viral videos from Tesla owners documenting their vehicles failing in extreme cold.
Customers who have had the same experience as the Steavensons are likely to take note of this: South Korea fined Tesla $2.2 million on Monday for overstating “the driving range of its electric vehicles, which turn out to be shorter in cold weather.”
