weegraeme

Thanks.

I rented from Sixt in 2016. I booked a Mazda CX-5 or similar because my own car at the time was a Mazda and I'd never driven a left hand drive vehicle before. I booked 5 months in advance. They were all out of my class of car when I arrived, but they offered me a Volvo V60 or an Audi A4. They were very good in that regard.

I sent another message via their web feedback form. No reply from that either. I'm starting to wonder if their technology is broken. I find it hard to believe that they'd ignore 4 messages from me.

Justin Case

I will give them a call tomorrow when their reservation line is open. I am just curious on how the whole electric car renting thing works.
With the very competitive Sixt weekend rates (Thursday 1300 till Monday, of Friday till Tuesday morning), it sometime makes (financially) sense for me to rent a car instead of taking my own. If i then also don't have to pay for fuel (or electricity in this case).

Gasoline fuel-burn per km is around 13 eurocents in NL. So somewhere between 850km (E-golf e110) and 1.350km (Jaguar I-pace e177) for a long weekend, the price for the rental would be cheaper than putting fuel into my own gasoline powered car (not even taking wear and tear and depreciation into account)

weegraeme

As long as you're calling them for your own information also. I don't want you to go spending any money just for my benefit. (I don't know how expensive or otherwise calls are there)

Justin Case

No worries, as mentioned I was also curious about the process:

I just gave Sixt NL a quick call.

1. For 10€ per day extra you get a EV charging card with unlimited free charging. I think this makes especially sense when you want to use the more expensive fast chargers and (of-course) drive long distances.

2. You don’t have to return the care with a full battery pack. At first she said half full, but after questioning the topic some more she said that there is nothing in the T&C determining exactly how full it most be. The only thing is that there should be enough power to drive it around to a car wash or something.

weegraeme

Thanks for that. I don't know how much fuel I'd buy for 30 Euros, but I'm assuming it wouldn't get me from Amsterdam to Limburg and back. It sounds like electric might be a practical (yet novel from an Australian perspective) option after all. I don't know why Sixt couldn't have told me that. But I do appreciate the effort you've gone to to find out, even if it was in part for your own knowledge.

Justin Case

Fuel prices are currently 1,75euro/liter in NL.
So if you drive on average more than 85km per day with the rental car, the Unlimited EV card is cheaper than gasoline.
(€10/ €1,75 per liter x 15km per liter)

kxc262

If the recharge card covers level 3 charging, it is worth it. I pay about $0.25-0.30 per minute for level 3 - 40 minutes is about $11 USD, which is enough for about 40 kWh. I recommend the app called PlugShare to find charging stations.

Justin Case

I am far from an expert on this matter, but see a lot of electric cars hanging on public poles. In NL you mostly pay per KwH instead of times. Cars are connected to the charging pole all night, or the whole day. Would be an expensive exercise.
Might be that the fast chargers near the highways are payable by the minute, but then you also want to be on the road as soon as possible.

kxc262

It depends on the stations. Some use kWh while others use time to charge. Most e-cars will be full in about 30-40 mins on a level 3 (480V/50A). My i3 REX (~42kwH) goes from 8% to 88% in about 40 minutes on level 3.
The rates are pretty comparable though. Other things to look out for include a hookup fee. Some stations charge $1-2 just to hook up.

The overnight charging stations are most likely level 1 or level 2. 8 hrs is needed from empty to full for a 40 kWh battery on level 2.