Hertz Puts You in An Electric Car's Driver's Seat

Tesla Roadster.
I don't know if this is the model Hertz offers.

Bloomberg News, in a story the Mercury News picked up, reported that Hertz customers at LAX and San Francisco International Airport can rent a Tesla electric car. The price of curiosity? $500 per day. Presumably, the deal comes with unlimited free mileage.

The opportunity sounds like great fun. I admit I do have a bit of Tesla deprivation jealousy. Someone in my general area owns a Tesla. On occasion, I see the car quietly cruise down a Main Street normally filled with SUVs, and I want to drive it. I have actually looked into the innards, such as they are, of a Tesla. A floor model was showcased at a local shopping mall recently. I was quite curious and looked inside; my wife acted on her interest and sat in the driver's seat.

There are relatively few electric charging stations in northern New Jersey. In fact, I wonder if the Northeast will ever embrace electric automobiles. The region has a strong conservative streak in matters of consumption and taste (contrary to popular perception about NY and NJ). Automobiles are not an exception to that sentiment. How quickly Hertz offers Teslas in its New York area centers remains to be seen.

NY Times vs. Tesla

Earlier this week, a dispute arose over a New York Times article which cast the Tesla Model S electrically-powered sedan in a very negative light. The Times sent reporter John Broder to test drive the Tesla in the Northeast. The challenges included cold weather and distant charging stations.

The Times' choice of Broder was a curious one. He is not an automotive reporter and has no known expertise regarding cars. The Times would not have dared conduct a similar approach with, say, Apple. One wonders why the paper went ahead and had Broder cover the story.

Elon Musk
(photo: esquire.com)

Broder wrote a highly critical piece about his Tesla test drives. Tesla did not take this lying down. Its president, Elon Musk, has taken to Twitter and other media outlets to bitterly criticize the Times and Broder. The newspaper, which has often written fawning pieces in the past about favored tech firms such as Apple, has taken on one of Silicon Valley's darlings. We'll see how far that approach works, and whether tech firms will take Times' reporters calls.

Siliconvalley.com has a useful synopsis of Times v. Tesla in today's online editions.

Would You Buy an Electric Car?

Tesla Roadster

Today's Washington Post included a piece discussing why consumers appear reluctant to embrace the electric car. The writer takes a stab at an answer to this conundrum. He suggests the vehicles' perceived driving range has deterred the public from purchasing electric cars. Price is also an issue, with the entry level starting around $40,000; the Feds offer a $7,500 tax credit to electric car purchasers to help manage the sticker payments. The Post piece only mentions the Chevy Volt and the Nissan Leaf as the available electric cars. The story does not mention Tesla Motors' snazzy Roadster Sport, which commands a base price of over $100,000.

I think most people don't have any idea electric cars exist. The vehicles still seem like something out of The Jetsons, and the concept of plugging a car into an electrical outlet just comes across as farfetched. Now, in the interests of reasonably full disclosure, I should say we own a hybrid vehicle. We like the idea of it, and the vehicle's performance satisfies us. (We're not very demanding in that department.) Of course, we have not experienced to date any significant problems with the vehicle. In that sense, our jury is still out.

Nonetheless, the electric car continues to fascinate me. It's not because I'm so committed to eco-friendly products; I'm attracted to the new gadget for its own sake. Also, the hybrid has helped me become accustomed to an electric motor's virtues. Down deep, though, I want an electric car because it's cool.