Driving in the USA
 

I have 2 questions please. I want to hire a car in Vancouver and drive down the west coast of USA (San Fransisco etc) - is it easy to cross the border in to the US with a Canadian hire car, and do you think the hire car company will allow me to cross the border? Also in the USA am I ok moving across states?
Thank you

Different car companies can place different geographical restrictions on where their cars can be driven. You would probably have to inquire of the particular company from which you would be renting.

Would this be a one-way rental, or would to ultimately return the car to the pick-up location?

Assuming that you are otherwise eligible for admission into the U.S., driving a Canadian-plated vehicle from British Columbia into Washington State should not be a problem at all. And once you are in the U.S., you may freely drive across state lines.
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We have hired a car a few times now in both USA and Canada. Just need to check the car companies restrictions as to where you can take the car.

When driving in USA we have never been restricted to other states but I'm sure I've seen some companies that do restrict you.

We have just booked car hire for later in the year via Enterprise and they allow you to travel to Canada as well as other states.

Also just so you are aware as an extra tip don't pay for additional driver if any other driver is a spouse or Partner as this is included and they may not tell you and take the money from you. We have also found through experience all cars come with Sat Nav built in regardless if you pay for it or not.

That varies from state to state, in some states the spouse is an authorized driver by law, in other states the spouse must be specifically listed in the rental contract as an authorized driver and there may be a fee for that.

Thanks for letting me know as I didn't know that, we must have just been lucky with the States we have visited as always been ok so far

Renting an EV from Newark vs Gasoline?
 

I plan to rent a car for 14-days in March from EWR for a return journey to Atlanta, totalling approx 2000 miles. I have a changeable reservation for a gasoline car from Thrifty (IDAR).

I decided against the equivalent electric vehicle since I am unsure about easy availability of EV Charge Points. I'll be using I-95 and I-85.

I assume there could be an advantage with EV in fuel costs? Any other considerations?

Electric car rentals do not come with a 110v home charger. At least this is so for Avis/Budget rentals.

110v charger is insufficient for charging an EV. My car would take over three days to get from 20% to 80% when plugged in to a 110v outlet. At a DC Fast charger, it takes 30 to 40 minutes.

Choice of route
 

We will be driving from Tampa to Toronto at the end of April. We will take three days to do it. Google Maps makes it 20h15m of driving time on the most direct route, i.e., crossing the border at Buffalo. But going via Detroit only adds 44 min. of driving to the trip (20h59m). Mostly we will just want to cover some ground and don't expect to stop and see much along the way. In those circumstances, is there any big reason to prefer one route over the other? TIA.

If you have never seen it, Niagara Falls is worth a view. The crossing from Buffalo is right at the Falls.

While you indicate stopping along the way to Toronto is not high on your to do list, seeing the Falls can be completed in 20 minutes (assuming parking is not at a premium when you arrive). I've even stopped at the Falls at 10pm, for a quick glance.
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Agree with the Niagara Falls recommendation. Make sure you confirm the weather before driving the east shore of Lake Erie though...late April *should* be clear, but if there is a chance for lake effect snow in the forecast, I wouldn't risk it.

Almost. The crossing from Buffalo is the Peace Bridge, which takes you to Fort Erie, Ontario. From Fort Erie, the falls are about a 20-minute drive. (There are bridges which connect Niagara Falls, New York, with Niagara Falls, Ontario, but the recommended route from Tampa to Niagara Falls, Ontario, goes via the Peace Bridge -- at least, per Google Maps.)

This is can be very bad advice! Most rental contracts require every authorized driver to be named in the rental agreement. If anything happens and someone who is not named on the rental agreement is driving it can be a very complicated situation and invalidate any insurance coverage for the rental. Some companies allow the spouse to be added as an authorized driver free of charge, but they must be named on the contract. The navigation system may not be kept up to date so be aware of that fact. I use my phone with Android auto and google maps instead of the built in navigation system on my own car. I stopped paying for the car navigation updates when I always connected my phone anyways.