this post was submitted on 11 Jan 2024
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I initially read the headline as referring to maintenance costs, but it's actually because people who rent EVs were using them under the rent to gig economy business they had. As in, people would rent cars to go do Uber Eats deliveries and such, as the EVs weren't being rented as often as expected from regular rental business. The people who rented these EVs were more likely to damage the vehicle than people who rented gas cars, and the repairs for that damage were more costly to fix.
There wasn't a great explanation as to why the EV rentals were more likely to get into accidents, but it's possible that the EVs were more confusing to operate, or more likely to be driven more aggressively due to the acceleration and performance. It's also possible that the EV models they had were more prone to other issues, like blind spots, worse breaking, or insufficient self-driving, but they didn't seem to distinguish between different makes and models as being more prone to damage.
Reuters noted that they had to put torque and speed limiters on the fleet EVs. These are cars that have performance stats that you would have found on a Viper or Corvette in the previous decade.
I imagine that the following combo is a recipe for disaster: flagship sports car speed + touchscreen centric car controls + eyeballs on mobile delivery apps
Don't forget people not caring about the car because it's a rental.
Correct, but that’s true for all rentals. ICE and EV.
My guess is that the disproportionate damage costs are due to something that’s more common with EVs.
My guess is that repair costs are higher because they have to be sent out for expensive repairs because the car software is locked down so they cannot repair them in-house.
That's what the future is coming to with cars. No more fixing with your own parts at home.
Note that Tesla, specifically, does not allow any third-party repairs. They simply don't make the parts available to independent shops. They are very much like Apple in this regard.
From my understanding, EVs from Chevy and Ford follow the same model as their ICE models. You may have difficulty finding independent mechanics that can work on their EVs, but it's not because the manufacturer is freezing them out.