Rental car shortage & GA travel

[Tantalum]

Sorry those of us in **** the deplorables parts of the country aren't just bleeding money from our pockets like those in California and we still have a budget.

Haha wow. I can appreciate the rage but at the end of the day tons of people are renting planes for at least 120 an hour just for a Skyhawk.. and many clubs, thankfully not where I am, but many charge a two or three hour daily minimum

A 3 day weekend will cost $1,500 just for the plane

FWIW I don't rent cars much because the whole process is annoying

 

[Bob Noel]

When discussing electric cars, sometimes people will make the point that we can always get a rental for those few times we need to drive beyond the effective range of the electric car.

hmmmmm.... the cost of rental cars kind of makes that idea (renting a car when the electric car can't get the job done) pretty expensive, never mind talking about the availability of a rental.

 

[bflynn]

When discussing electric cars, sometimes people will make the point that we can always get a rental for those few times we need to drive beyond the effective range of the electric car.

hmmmmm.... the cost of rental cars kind of makes that idea (renting a car when the electric car can't get the job done) pretty expensive, never mind talking about the availability of a rental.

not really. In 2 years I’ve rented a car exactly once. That wasnt because the electric car didn’t have the range, it was because it didn’t have the capacity. I suppose we could have used two cars and maybe it would have worked.

The one thing that I miss right now is the ability to have a trailer to pull things - and yes, even my electric car can pull a 2 ton trailer. Unfortunately the HOA thinks they’re ugly and I have no place to park a trailer out of sight.

 

[Bob Noel]

not really. In 2 years I’ve rented a car exactly once. That wasnt because the electric car didn’t have the range, it was because it didn’t have the capacity. I suppose we could have used two cars and maybe it would have worked.

That just means you haven't had a mission that required the range. Try driving across the country with an EV or a Boston to Florida roadtrip.

 

[tspear]

That just means you haven't had a mission that required the range. Try driving across the country with an EV or a Boston to Florida roadtrip.

I do not have an EV. But there were not many road trips I could not have done in one. Sure it would require some interesting accommodations but it is doable. The reality for me, I prefer to fly rather than drive.

Tim

 

[Bob Noel]

"for those few times we need "

 

[tspear]

"for those few times we need "

Hmm, I should have said there were not any could not have done that we did. But they were over the east coast.
The only one I could not do, was a potential trip to see a friend in upper KY. I could not find any charging locations within a couple hundred miles.

Tim

 

[bflynn]

Try driving across the country with an EV or a Boston to Florida roadtrip.

I'd rather fly. But it's doable. No question, not as convenient as a gas car, but nobody ever said there weren't tradeoffs.

 

[wayne]

Hmm, I should have said there were not any could not have done that we did. But they were over the east coast.
The only one I could not do, was a potential trip to see a friend in upper KY. I could not find any charging locations within a couple hundred miles.

Tim

Well, there aren't any EV pick-up trucks yet.

Our middle daughter lives in Lexington. She drives a pick-up. She works in the thoroughbred industry, so it gets used as a truck.

There are more showing up now, just looked. Not a lot, but doable. There are even a few Level 3 chargers.

 

[EdFred]

Haha wow. I can appreciate the rage but at the end of the day tons of people are renting planes for at least 120 an hour just for a Skyhawk.. and many clubs, thankfully not where I am, but many charge a two or three hour daily minimum

A 3 day weekend will cost $1,500 just for the plane

FWIW I don't rent cars much because the whole process is annoying

That's not my cost for a trip. I don't do the cost per hour thing. Annuals, insurance, hangar is gonna be what it's gonna be whether I turn the crank or not. On this next trip the rental car is more expensive than the plane. A trip cost is fuel+oil. The rest of the crap is overhead.

 

[wayne]

I'm thinking about getting one. Right now I'm driving a convertible Mustang with a manual transmission. Still having fun driving it, so it may be a while. Right now I like the Niro EV. The rumor is they will kick up the range to somewhere around 275-300 miles in the 2022 model. Sadly it doesn't look like they will switch it to their 800v E-GMP system. The E-GMP cars are supposed to charge from 10% to 80% (~210 miles) in 18 min.

Largely I don't need the range. On a rare occasion it might be nice. If the distance is far we fly, private or commercial. My Mustang is a 2016 and has ~34k miles on it. While it's fun to drive, it's rather impractical, so I think we've only taken on a trip twice, and that largely because my wife's 2017 car has more miles on it.

 

[tspear]

Well, there aren't any EV pick-up trucks yet.

Our middle daughter lives in Lexington. She drives a pick-up. She works in the thoroughbred industry, so it gets used as a truck.

There are more showing up now, just looked. Not a lot, but doable. There are even a few Level 3 chargers.

Look at the new Ford F150 Lighting. Ships next year I think, looks rather impressive.

Tim

 

[Tantalum]

Ford F150 Lighting

I appreciate that it looks largely "normal" .. I think that's been one of the issues preventing more adoption of electric cars, is many of them just look too "weird" to be honest. Tesla is one thing (including the 'it's-my-first-time-using-cad-Cybertruck') but the Volt, Bolt, Prius, Leaf, none of these cars look good

The Mustang Mach E and the Lightning actually look like "normal" cars. I think that will help adoption.

 

[Tantalum]

A trip cost is fuel+oil

Yeah.. that's been my biggest factor is the cost of the damn rental. While ownership has its own headaches there's a tipping point where owning is cheaper than renting. In another thread I posted about renting a plane in FL for Bahamas. If I had my own plane I'd just fly that over from here

Sucks how damn expensive this hobby is.

 

[chartbundle]

Look at the new Ford F150 Lighting. Ships next year I think, looks rather impressive.

Tim

300 miles not towing, I can't imagine how short that will be once towing, especially somewhere with hilly terrain.

 

[tspear]

300 miles not towing, I can't imagine how short that will be once towing, especially somewhere with hilly terrain.

Hills have a lot less effect on range than cold. Reason is going downhill you actually charge the battery.

Tim

 

[Salty]

Hills have a lot less effect on range than cold. Reason is going downhill you actually charge the battery.

Tim

Going downhill with a load probably doesn’t charge the battery much more than without the load, but it takes a lot more to take it back up.

 

[tspear]

Going downhill with a load probably doesn’t charge the battery much more than without the load, but it takes a lot more to take it back up.

Assuming the engineers planned for it, it makes a huge difference. Here is a thought experiment.
How much brake power does the truck use when unloaded versus loaded. Assume the trailer brakes are not used (equivalent to downshifting and using the ICE engine).

Tim

Sent from my HD1907 using Tapatalk

 

[Clip4]

I just did a search into a non tourist destination in to a satellite city for next weekend. Plenty of cars at $80 a day.

 

[bflynn]

Assuming the engineers planned for it, it makes a huge difference. Here is a thought experiment.
How much brake power does the truck use when unloaded versus loaded. Assume the trailer brakes are not used (equivalent to downshifting and using the ICE engine).

The regen on EVs is not that efficient. I've seen a number in the past of about 35% of the energy recaptured during regen. So if you use 10 kw to climb a mountain, you can expect to recapture 3.5 kw coming down the mountain. I'd like to think they're working on improving that and maybe that number has gotten a lot better, but it not even close to an even exchange right now.

 

[MooneyDriver78]

I’m planning on a long trip (1500nm)…the rental car will be as much as the avgas?!

 

[tspear]

The regen on EVs is not that efficient. I've seen a number in the past of about 35% of the energy recaptured during regen. So if you use 10 kw to climb a mountain, you can expect to recapture 3.5 kw coming down the mountain. I'd like to think they're working on improving that and maybe that number has gotten a lot better, but it not even close to an even exchange right now.

You need to double that efficacy number.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/electrek.co/2018/04/24/regenerative-braking-how-it-works/amp/

Still not perfect, but much better than FUD would have you believe. Oh, that article is a few years old too.

Still, I doubt the new Lightning is the right candidate to pull a horse trailer in mountain country.

Tim

Sent from my HD1907 using Tapatalk

 

[FastEddieB]

Some folks are renting UHaul trucks because they can't get cars.

Been there, done that. At the time, $19.95/day and it got us home from a WX-delayed fiasco!