Dude, when we visit my partner’s family in rural Missouri, we cannot make it from the last fast charger to his where his family lives on less than 100%. We roll in with 3-5% and are thankful to have a 120V outlet in their garage to plug into because there is NOTHING else in a 50 mile radius.
Charge to 100% when you need to.
You’ll need to pay for charging out of pocket, some charging companies do require an account but Electrify America and EVgo will allow you to use a card at most stations (at least that I’ve encountered).
However, they may charge you a higher rate per kW if you don’t have an account.
I reserved an EV through Avis last year and reached out to ask what state of charge the car needed to be returned at, and at the time they told me via Twitter that 25% SoC was fine and that I would not be assessed a charging fee, but that was over a year ago, so I’d recommend checking with them directly.
Just checked their website, it’s now 70% SoC to avoid a fee.
I rented a non-Tesla EV from Hertz this August and they required 80% SoC to avoid a fee.
Because there just aren’t that many EVs yet, the EVs on the road are still under warranty, and there’s not much to service on an EV compared to gas vehicles.
Consider that most people who visit a service center outside of a dealership today are likely to have an older vehicle that is out of warranty, otherwise they’re much more likely to have service done at the dealership where they bought their car or at least a dealership for the same brand of car.
Most EVs on the road are newer and under warranty, and many include free service from the dealer for a few years after purchase. The service for the first several years of an EV’s life are tire rotations, washer fluid, tires, and brake pads, some EVs will require flushing and replacing the battery coolant, but not until the car has hit 40-50k miles.
It’s going to be a long time before there are enough EVs on the road that are out of warranty to support a general third-party service center, and places like Meineke and Jiffy Lube are already equipped to handle most EV service needs (fluids, tires, and brake pads). Battery coolant is basically just antifreeze so it probably won’t take much for existing companies to expand their services to cover most EV needs.
Tesla has service centers all over the country, and will typically come to you for service, unless it’s something they can’t do in your driveway.