Welcome to Tesla Motors Club
Discuss Tesla's Model S, Model 3, Model X, Model Y, Cybertruck, Roadster and More.
Register

Renting a Model 3 in Seattle

This site may earn commission on affiliate links.
I'm pondering a visit to the US, beginning in Seattle. If I rent a Model 3 there, a few questions arise:
  • Is that even possible?
  • How can I find non-Tesla charging stations in the US? The apps I use in Europe do not show US chargers.
  • How can I pay for charging at non-Tesla chargers? I suppose that Tesla Superchargers are no problem.
  • Can I use my phone as car key?
 
The answers depend on who you rent the car from. I've used Turo to rent Teslas in different cities, and was given access via the Tesla app in all cases (sometimes they charge extra for that). You get billed for supercharging after the rental ends. I think you're on your own for other charging.

Hertz rents Model 3s in many US locations. They probably handle things differently, and I think they use a different app for the car, but I haven't rented a Tesla from them so I don't have personal experience.
 
  • Informative
Reactions: hgmichna
And abetterrouteplanner.com (which is technically a European creation, so hopefully you are familiar with it) works very well in the US as well, and you can set it up to look for CCS stations as well if you will have a CCS adapter available. Plus, the car will be able to route you to Superchargers while on long distance legs.

But yes, for general exploration of public chargers (including L2), Plugshare is your best bet. It has a Trip Planner capability that you can use for example to show you charging stations located near certain amenities (such as hotels or restaurants), so you can use that to help with planning overnight stops. If you are looking at chain hotels, Hilton properties are by far the most common to host charging stations (Hampton Inn & Hilton Garden Inn especially). If B&B's are more your style, those are more likely to have Tesla destination chargers.

As for payment, that really varies, but again, consult Plugshare for payment information. It will tell you what network (if any) and what the cost is. Many L2 stations are free, but by and far, ChargePoint is the most common network, so at a minimum I would sign up for a ChargePoint account. For DC fastchargers, you will most commonly run into Electrify America, EVgo, and again ChargePoint, with Blink and Shell Recharge possibly showing up. There are roaming agreements between networks, so for example you should be able to use an EVgo station with your ChargePoint account, but I don't have first-hand experience with this myself. Electrify America stations can be used without an account, but their credit card readers are a common point of failure, so I would probably establish an account if you are looking to use that service. But really, you should be fine with just the SuperCharger network, destination chargers, and a ChargePoint account for any pay L2 stations that you may encounter.
 
  • Informative
Reactions: hgmichna
I will just add my personal preference when I'm going to a city I haven't traveled to before that might still apply. I usually would not want the complication of signing up for accounts on other charging networks that I might only use once in my life. So I will usually just see what side of town has a Tesla Supercharger location, and if it's close enough and I'm not doing a lot of distance driving, I will go there every two or three days just for the simplicity, reliability, redundancy, large number of stalls, consistent high charge speeds, etc.

So looking at the Seattle area, there are about 6 Supercharger locations in that general area, and the suburb cities like Tukwilla, Issaquah, and Bellevue. So if your hotel is toward one of these sides, my preference might be to stick with a Supercharger unless Plugshare shows something very close.

Here's an easy to look at map of the Supercharger locations:

www.supercharge.info
 
  • Informative
Reactions: hgmichna
In western Washington you should be able to travel just about anywhere using Supercharging only, maybe using destination charging on the peninsula. I haven’t done it myself yet but I think you can cover most of the country that way.
I have EA and Chargepoint apps but have only used them to check them and the CCS adapter out, haven’t actually ever needed them.
 
  • Informative
Reactions: hgmichna