James needed a one way rental car reservation

He stumbled upon a great half price offer 

From an internationally known rental company

It was described as a mystery car

Basically whatever they have left over

He did not need a big car

He was not worried if it was going to be tiny

As long as it was functional

He did all the pre-checkin on line

So it would be just grab n go at the pickup

There was no line but the lady at the desk looked miserable

She grunted license and credit card

A few moments later handing James the keys

Its on the side by the wall

She then answered a phone call with similar grunts

James went to find the car

He spotted it and opened the door

Not having driven a Hyundai before

Searching in the glove box for a manual

No manual or any kind of instructions

He hit the start button and the dash lit up

UNPLUG CAR TO START ENGINE

He got out and walked around the car

Sure enough it was plugged into the wall

He had no idea this was an electric car

No time to waste on learning how to charge it

James went back to the office 

He asked if he could exchange it for a regular car

Its what you reserved she grunted

There is a $50 to cancel

After a few minutes of haggling he concluded he was stuck with it

Requesting that somebody show him how to operate it

I’ll send somebody out she grunted

James waited by the vehicle

Hoping for a more helpful employee to show up

A young man approached in silence 

He opened the trunk and unplugged the cable

Throwing it into the trunk and announcing

You are good to go now as he walked away

James fiddled with the controls

Drove around the parking lot a few times

Pausing to check the charging level

It was only 50% and the range was close to his journey distance

He would have to top it up before drop-off

Searching on line for the nearest charging station

He was soon pulling up to a vacant Tesla supercharger station

This is easy he thought to himself

I must be super smart to figure this out so quickly

Feeling super smug as he went to plug it in

The plug did not match the car

Another rapid google search revealed

2024 Hyundai cannot be plugged into Tesla superchargers

Unless your purchase a $300 adaptor

He had to think quickly and decided to use the cable that came with the car

Driving around the back of the gas station

He found an outlet on the wall

Quickly plugging it in and feeling smug again

The dashboard confirmed it was charging

But it would need 34 hours to get to 100%

Obviously this was not the solution

James gave up on trying to charge the vehicle

Driving super smoothly on ECO drive mode

He nervously watched the charge level drop down

Warning lights started to flash in the last 50 miles

The charge level was in single digits when he dropped off the car

He arrived in a cold sweat

He handed in the keys to a smiling lady at the counter

Everything work out OK? She enquired

Not really said James I am new to electric cars

She smiled wider There will be a $70 charge for returning the vehicle under 10% charge

James just shrugged in disbelief

He could not think of a worse business model

Trick your customers into renting a spaceship

Leaving them alone to figure it out and then surcharging at drop off

No more Mystery cars for James