Here are 5 options…
Your editor has never driven an EV (unless you include an electric bike and the very occasional golf cart) and so in preparation for taking on this role thought it would be wise to at least be driven around in a few, which happened at an EV event a few months ago thanks to Whirl (see below).
But organising to have a drive in an EV is no easy matter – not all dealerships have got EV versions of their cars available for test drive (or even in stock) and organising a test drive also implies that you are ready to purchase one, and you may not be! So what options so you have. Here are a few you might want to consider…
1) Hire one
A number of hire companies now have EVs on their fleets (you may have heard that Hertz in the US ordered a few Teslas recently – https://techcrunch.com/2021/11/02/elon-musk-says-hertz-hasnt-actually-ordered-100000-tesla-evs-yet/), including Hertz, Europcar and Sixt.
Here’s what a one day hire would cost you…
Sixt (sixt.com.au)
Tesla 3 $238 (hire in Brisbane)
MG ZS EV $198 (hire in Brisbane)
Europcar
MG ZS EV $336 (hire in Sydney)
Despite their large order in the US and the fact they listed a Tesla 3 on their Australian site, we couldn’t find any pricing details at all for any EVs on the Hertz website.
2) Use a car sharing platform
In fact there’s only one and it’s called evee (https://www.evee.com.au/). Evee allows owners of EVs in Australia to list their cars on the site for hire. Cost per day varies from $200-$600. Although the site does say it is for all EVs, it only has selection boxes for Mercedes and Tesla and a search for Mercedes models came up with nothing. Car owners who list their cars on the site receive 65% of the rental revenue.
3) Get a ‘car subscription’
Pioneered by electricity company AGL, a car subscription plan called AGL Next, allows you to drive an EV for relatively short periods of time, from 3 months up to 12 months, and pay a weekly fee. An MG ZS EV for example would cost $275 per week on a 3 month plan. You can opt to have one of their home chargers and current AGL customers also get a slightly better deal than everyone else.
For more info go to https://www.agl.com.au/agl-next
4) Give it a whirl!
Set up here in Australia by Dr Alina Dini, former exec admin to a certain Mr E Musk (and later Public Policy Manager at Tesla), Whirl (https://www.giveitawhirl.co/) is all about people who are interested in EVs and maybe considering buying one who would like to experience what it’s like in an EV at first hand.
Recognising that there still aren’t that many EVs on Australia roads, Whirl have got together a team of ‘ambassadors’ – electric vehicle owners – in most of the major cities around Australia who are happy to talk to people about their experiences driving an EV in a 30 minute phone/video call, with Whirl shortly planning to offer in person demos and test rides and drives.
5) Uber it
The term ‘rideshare car rental’ has been coined by splend (https://www.splend.com.au/), who offer car finance/rental for rideshare/delivery platform drivers wanting to rent or buy a vehicle to use as an Uber (or similar). As a guide they quote ‘from $289’ per week for a Splend Flexi package for a Toyota Camry Hybrid for a minimum 6 week contract. Although they currently do not have any all electric vehicles on their fleet, they are planning on adding some BEVs (Battery Electric Vehicles) to their fleet in early 2022.
Let us know below if you’ve given any of these options a go!
David Bateson
