We love our planet and are fervent environmentalists, but our recent experience in the UK has put us off hiring Electric Vehicles for life. Embrace the horror. Read the article.
I could not read all of this in detail. Not because of the writing but because of PTSD from my own experiences with the same car from Hertz when in the UK last year on a very busy (i.e. lots of driving) trip with my two grown sons, which included recording on the south coast, spending time around London, and then staying in Yorkshire, where my mother is in a care home with dementia. The decline is so rapid I wanted my sons to spend time with her once more while there remains something there. In short, and given that it was 10 days for two of us and just 5 days for my older son, it wasn't a trip on which we needed to be held up.
I wrote about my experience on FB before starting my Substack and don't want to go back and revisit. I actually hated the Polestar from start to finish - not my idea of a fun, unintrusive car - and the charging was an absolute effing nightmare. I was given no instructions, could not get people on the phone and we had umpteen terrible experiences with charging stations operating on different apps from different countries, one of which had just been bought out by a rival but hadn't gotten around to changing the info on the charging station. I found myself in tears in Brighton - literally in tears - on a night my younger son and I had to walk a mile and a half to get food at 10pm while waiting for our car to charge sufficiently. Also remember sitting outside a God-foresaken Aldi's (unless it was a Lido) somewhere round Stevenage waiting an hour for the vehicle to charge sufficiently to get us to Gatwick where my older son and I ended up leaving it overnight plugged in outside a Saimsbury's, walking a mile to our hotel, walking back in the morning only to find it had stopped charging after about 3% improvement and that we could have been ticketed for leaving it overnight. Fortunately, we weren't. I handed it back to Hertz telling them what an incredibly negative experience it was and daring them to charge me for it not coming back at 80%. They didn't.
The high point: that lamp-post charging station in Brighton when I finally got someone on the phone and given what I had just been through, he flicked a switch and we got a free charge. That was after the tears but before the 10pm late walk while it charged.
It's not "never EVER again." I drive a Toyota Prius hybrid 2010 model and love it. I would go fully electric next time round as long as I could charge from home. But hiring one with the current UK charging infrastructure because we want to help the planet and Hertz is offering a discount. No.
PS: On my most recent, six-week trip, I went the other way, and traveled the entire country, including trips to the mountains in Wales and Scotland, via public transport. There were two cab rides, and a few shared car trips in other people's cars, but everything else was some form of mass transit. This felt better all around - for the planet, for my wallet, and also for my mental health, though of course the British railway system is another painful post of its own.
My heart goes out for your loss. We owned a electric car for five years and we'll never own another. We sold it prior to the big move from California to Tennessee, driving to our new home with an electric car would probably takes us a year 😉
Thank you Craig. She had a good innings, enjoyed life to the very last and didn’t suffer. That’s the way to go. Yes, the electric car was a disappointment as like you guys we want this sort of shit to work. The solution has to be hydrogen.
Charging infrastructure has a long way to go. No doubt about that. I drive an EV regularly in the US where public charging is arguably worse than in the UK. But almost all of our charging is done at home so there is very little pain. Mostly.
Still... I rented a similar Polestar 2 for 2 weeks for vacation in England last fall and very much enjoyed the car. We had a few charging troubles (one charger that didn't work, and one that Google said existed but was nowhere to be found.) With a bit of planning we managed to "fill up" at a few DC chargers and one place we stayed had an on-site charger which made things easy. If/when we return to the UK I'm much inclined to again go with an EV.
Hydrogen is far in the future if it comes at all. The solution lies in better charging infrastructure. We’re still in early days for the EV transition.
The problem is range and battery technology. It will never work for commercial vehicles! We are very concerned about the environment and really want a solution but IMHO this isn’t it.
That’s not true. I see EV Amazon delivery trucks on the streets all the time. USPS is ordering loads of them. And what makes you think that the technology isn’t progressing? It will continue to improve.
First, our deepest condolences on the loss of auntie Pam 🙏. Although the trip was a bit troublesome, so happy you guys made it back to celebrate her life.❤️
On the electric car issue, thank you - a big note to self , if/when I do need to rent (hire 😉) a car… I will rent a car and not a headache… don’t need that kind of added frustration . Cheers 🍻
Thank you Jeff. The unnecessary added stress and wasted hours driving an EV we could have definitely done without. And it's so expensive!! Won't be repeating after this experience!
Hi Simon and Starlite,
I could not read all of this in detail. Not because of the writing but because of PTSD from my own experiences with the same car from Hertz when in the UK last year on a very busy (i.e. lots of driving) trip with my two grown sons, which included recording on the south coast, spending time around London, and then staying in Yorkshire, where my mother is in a care home with dementia. The decline is so rapid I wanted my sons to spend time with her once more while there remains something there. In short, and given that it was 10 days for two of us and just 5 days for my older son, it wasn't a trip on which we needed to be held up.
I wrote about my experience on FB before starting my Substack and don't want to go back and revisit. I actually hated the Polestar from start to finish - not my idea of a fun, unintrusive car - and the charging was an absolute effing nightmare. I was given no instructions, could not get people on the phone and we had umpteen terrible experiences with charging stations operating on different apps from different countries, one of which had just been bought out by a rival but hadn't gotten around to changing the info on the charging station. I found myself in tears in Brighton - literally in tears - on a night my younger son and I had to walk a mile and a half to get food at 10pm while waiting for our car to charge sufficiently. Also remember sitting outside a God-foresaken Aldi's (unless it was a Lido) somewhere round Stevenage waiting an hour for the vehicle to charge sufficiently to get us to Gatwick where my older son and I ended up leaving it overnight plugged in outside a Saimsbury's, walking a mile to our hotel, walking back in the morning only to find it had stopped charging after about 3% improvement and that we could have been ticketed for leaving it overnight. Fortunately, we weren't. I handed it back to Hertz telling them what an incredibly negative experience it was and daring them to charge me for it not coming back at 80%. They didn't.
The high point: that lamp-post charging station in Brighton when I finally got someone on the phone and given what I had just been through, he flicked a switch and we got a free charge. That was after the tears but before the 10pm late walk while it charged.
It's not "never EVER again." I drive a Toyota Prius hybrid 2010 model and love it. I would go fully electric next time round as long as I could charge from home. But hiring one with the current UK charging infrastructure because we want to help the planet and Hertz is offering a discount. No.
PS: On my most recent, six-week trip, I went the other way, and traveled the entire country, including trips to the mountains in Wales and Scotland, via public transport. There were two cab rides, and a few shared car trips in other people's cars, but everything else was some form of mass transit. This felt better all around - for the planet, for my wallet, and also for my mental health, though of course the British railway system is another painful post of its own.
Cheers! Tony.
My heart goes out for your loss. We owned a electric car for five years and we'll never own another. We sold it prior to the big move from California to Tennessee, driving to our new home with an electric car would probably takes us a year 😉
Thank you Craig. She had a good innings, enjoyed life to the very last and didn’t suffer. That’s the way to go. Yes, the electric car was a disappointment as like you guys we want this sort of shit to work. The solution has to be hydrogen.
Charging infrastructure has a long way to go. No doubt about that. I drive an EV regularly in the US where public charging is arguably worse than in the UK. But almost all of our charging is done at home so there is very little pain. Mostly.
Still... I rented a similar Polestar 2 for 2 weeks for vacation in England last fall and very much enjoyed the car. We had a few charging troubles (one charger that didn't work, and one that Google said existed but was nowhere to be found.) With a bit of planning we managed to "fill up" at a few DC chargers and one place we stayed had an on-site charger which made things easy. If/when we return to the UK I'm much inclined to again go with an EV.
Thanks for the detailed comment. As I said the car was good, the costs and inconvenience wasn’t. Hydrogen fuel cells are the way forward?
Hydrogen is far in the future if it comes at all. The solution lies in better charging infrastructure. We’re still in early days for the EV transition.
The problem is range and battery technology. It will never work for commercial vehicles! We are very concerned about the environment and really want a solution but IMHO this isn’t it.
That’s not true. I see EV Amazon delivery trucks on the streets all the time. USPS is ordering loads of them. And what makes you think that the technology isn’t progressing? It will continue to improve.
I was refering to big trucks. Local deliveries are different.
I think you’re moving the goalposts.
First, our deepest condolences on the loss of auntie Pam 🙏. Although the trip was a bit troublesome, so happy you guys made it back to celebrate her life.❤️
On the electric car issue, thank you - a big note to self , if/when I do need to rent (hire 😉) a car… I will rent a car and not a headache… don’t need that kind of added frustration . Cheers 🍻
Thank you Jeff. The unnecessary added stress and wasted hours driving an EV we could have definitely done without. And it's so expensive!! Won't be repeating after this experience!
Thank Jeff. Pam had a great life and she gave us a wonderful excuse to have a break. Yes, EVs are troublesome.