Hertz put a first-time EV driver in a Tesla that was half dead, then tried to hold her financially accountable for getting stranded on the side of the road.


Now that EVs are filling out rental fleets around the U.S., drivers are going through an adjustment period full of hazards and inconveniences. A mother and daughter from Gurnee, Illinois, became trapped inside of a Tesla from Hertz, which the company rented out to them in lieu of an ICE-equipped sedan the woman had reserved in advance. After the dead Tesla stranded them, Hertz tried to put the woman on a do-not-rent list, despite being responsible for much of the trouble, as the woman tells CBS News.

When Becky Liebau and her daughter arrived to the Hertz counter, they were told the only car left on the rental lot was a Tesla. Liebau had never driven an EV; she had booked a reservation for a gas-powered car, but rental companies are notorious for taking reservations though not holding onto them. According to Liebau, this was around closing time and she had no other choice but to take the Tesla, which appears to have been a Model 3 based on the CBS report:

Disaster ensued for the mother and daughter, who had booked the trip to scope out prospective colleges for the 16-year old scholar. We could easily say this was due to driver error, but it’s not that simple. User error figures into the problems that left the woman and teenager stranded, but the onus rests on Hertz now that it’s bolstered its rental fleet with over 50,000 EVs. Especially when dealing with first-time EV drivers like Liebau.

And it’s not like it was for lack of trying on the part of the mother and daughter. Liebau says her daughter tried getting up to speed on the Tesla EV, going on the internet to learn how to to operate the fully-electric car.

Hertz had given the pair an EV that was reportedly under 50 percent state of charge. The Tesla showed approximately 90 miles of range left, which may have been enough to get Liebau and her daughter to a charger. Hertz, however, did not provide them with an adapter to use charging stations that don’t conform to Tesla’s charging standard. Hertz later suggested these adapters are often targeted by thieves. It’s hard to see why that matters, or why Hertz would mention this — other than to suggest it was acting in its own best interest.

The Tesla’s tires were also low on air and would have benefitted from a top up. What Hertz basically did was hand Liebau the keys to a less than half-charged EV with low tire pressure and a missing adapter for use at nearby chargers. The Tesla went dead as Liebau searched for a charging station, trapping the two inside the cabin. Liebau and her daughter had no idea how to get out of the dead EV, and their phones were running out of battery, too. Again, that’s user error, but no one at Hertz explained the proper procedures to Liebau.

No roadside assistance came from Hertz. The two were eventually towed by a driver they had tracked down on their own, who taught them to override the electric door locks. They were taken to a hotel nearby, and had to pay one of the maintenance workers there for a ride across the state.

Presumably, back to their home. A hefty bill was waiting for them, as Hertz tried to pin the blame on Liebau. She refused to pay the invoices, and the company put her on a do-not-rent list. Hertz only happened to reverse course after CBS investigators reached out to the company. CBS says that Hertz has now refunded all charges and has reimbursed Liebau for the expenses she incurred.


  • argh_another_username@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    I don’t own an EV, so I don’t know how all this works. But I find this behaviour very weird. The amount of energy needed to move a car is gigantic compared to, well, everything else inside the car. Even without power to move the vehicle, there should be enough charge to open the doors, operate the computer and so on.

    When my phone shuts down from lack of power, if I immediately put it in the charge, it will light up the screen to show the battery symbol. So, even if there’s not enough juice to power all the components of the phone, there’s still some charge to turn the screen on to show the battery status. Only if I don’t charge it for a long time is that the screen will take time to start showing me the battery symbol.

    • squiblet@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      Not sure about other phones, but Apple made their devices purposefully shut off before they’re totally dead, so that they have enough power to be located for 1-2 days if lost.

    • Barbarian@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      Phones do not show you the real battery state. The % of real charge left when your battery shows 0% will differ depending on OS and version, but no smartphone will allow you to continue running it when approaching empty.

      This is because the closer you get to a really empty battery, the more risk of wear there is on components. Suddenly undervolting components because your battery physically cannot supply enough power is not good.

      • Clent@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        You do not know what you are talking about.

        None of these batteries completely discharges. None.

        Ignoring that, there is zero reason the vehicle needs to shutdown all powered accessories. It is more than capable of leaving enough charge to operate the door.

        Thinking about this, how do the emergency lights work? Dead in the side of the road with not indicators available should be illegal.

        • Barbarian@sh.itjust.works
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          1 year ago

          I’m gonna upvote you because you are right, even though you need to work on your reading comprehension.

          That’s pretty much what I said.

        • thanevim@kbin.social
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          1 year ago

          You should reread the comment you replied to. They never said phone batteries completely discharge. They said users don’t see the real “percentage of charge” when a phone “dies”. They actually said that the reported 0% isn’t actually 0%.

          Further, they were accurate about undervolting components. I’ll add that the damage would of course happen sooner to the battery than the components, but the point stands. No use throwing shade here.

          • Barbarian@sh.itjust.works
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            1 year ago

            I’m more familiar with desktop components than mobile devices, so that was my frame of reference there with undervolting. Didn’t know about the battery damage, thanks for the interesting tidbit.

    • cole@lemdro.id
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      1 year ago

      It’s even weirder than that, there is an entirely separate 12v battery that powers the doors, screen, accessories, and everything else except the motors. The big high voltage battery literally only powers the motors and charges the 12v one. If the HV battery dies, the rest of the car works as normal just without being able to drive. So I don’t understand how this happened