Ali Condon
A sibling road trip went off the rails thanks to a Tesla rental that reportedly had to stop six times in one day to charge up.
Xaviar and Alice Steavenson had decided to try out the swanky electric car and drive from Orlando, Florida to Wichita, Kansas, but it didn't end up being the luxury trip they were hoping for.
While the pair knew they'd need to stop to charge up the Tesla's battery every once in a while, they weren't prepared for how many times they would have to come to a halt during their day.
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There was a serious factor at play here, which is the fact that the weather had been absolutely awful in the US during the winter months, with snow covering much of the country towards the end of December.
Still, they ploughed on with their journey, but had to stop on six occasions.
Apparently, things started off better and gradually got worse. At one stage, Xaviar told Insider the ‘battery would drain faster than it would charge’.
He continued: "We ended up having to stop every one to one and a half hours to charge for an hour, then an hour and a half, then two hours.
"So beyond the lost time, it also got to the point it was between $25 and $30 to recharge. Just in one day, we stopped six times to charge at that cost."
Yikes, that’s a lot of money if what they claim is accurate.
They even called up Hertz, where an agent allegedly told them that they’d been taking ‘nothing but Tesla calls today’ adding that they had ‘no idea why they're having issues’.
A spokesperson for Hertz said: "We have 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."
In the end, they were told to go to the nearest Hertz location for a new car, but didn’t get a Tesla and ended up driving back in a gas vehicle.
Xaviar explained: “They [didn’t] have Teslas there or not even the equivalent, so I'm headed back in a Nissan Rogue Sport - at least it's economical."
UNILAD has reached out to Tesla for a comment.