The true and comical account of renting and driving
an electric vehicle for the first time while in Los Angeles!
Written by Lauren
This post contains affiliate links.
I should start this off by saying I was an electric vehicle virgin prior to this experience.
But with the expansion of electric vehicles in rental car companies fleets, as well as the growth of EV infrastructure here in the US and globally, when the opportunity presented itself to drive one, I’ll admit, I was curious.
I just had to know.
In this adventure, I’ll take you through how my electric vehicle journey started, picking up at LAX, getting started with the Polestar 2 and some helpful tips to get you on the road, some fun times driving through LA, my overall electric car experience, and some things you need to know about charging the Polestar 2. I’ll also include some helpful resources that would’ve been super useful to me had I had them at the time.
Let’s go!
Jump right to it …
The story of how we got to here
Renting a Polestar 2 from Hertz
Picking up from LAX
Getting started with the Polestar 2
Locking + unlocking the Polestar 2
Center control panel of the Polestar 2
Other controls in the Polestar 2
Shifting into gear in the Polestar 2
Charge and range in the Polestar 2
What you need to know about charging the Polestar 2
Driving in LA
Parking in LA
And then there was a police helicopter
The story of how we got to here
I was invited on an impromptu trip to Los Angeles last April.
Me, being me (restless, adventurous), and LA, being LA (spread out), I knew I’d want a car to get around and explore the city.
Scrolling through rental car options on Hertz and Expedia, I was initially surprised to find that the cheapest options were electric vehicles. (But in retrospect, with California leading the way in the EV industry in America, maybe not so surprising?)
I’d never driven an electric vehicle before. And besides for an Uber ride or two in a Tesla (for the love of god, where are those damn door handles and how do I get them to open?), I knew absolutely nothing about EVs, to be honest.
I sent a few texts out to some friends. Had any of them ever rented an EV before? What was their experience?
But none of them had.
So, me being me, I decided there was no time like the present to find out and reserved one. For journalistic purposes, of course.
Renting a Polestar 2 from Hertz
Costs: I paid $321.55 for a four day rental
Per the Hertz Polestar FAQ:
- Skip the Recharge: Return your EV at any battery level and we’ll recharge it for $35—Hertz Gold Plus Rewards® members pay just $25. Or return it at the same battery level as pick-up and pay $0.
- 80% Rule: EV batteries work best between 80-20%, so we strive to have all our EVs at 80% at pick-up.
Typically, you can opt to return it at the same level fuel/battery that you got it with for no cost, or pay a premium to return it with less fuel/battery than you got it. Clarify with your rental company what the charges are before you take it out of the lot.
Picking up from LAX
At times, we all experience those enviable travel experiences were everything goes smoothly and just as planned.
This trip was not one of them. It was one of those days where everything that could go wrong, went wrong, resulting in a domino effect of delays and missed appointments.
So having finally arrived at LAX after a series of delays, I took the rental car shuttle to the Hertz lot. Upon disembarking, there was my name, right on the Hertz gold member board.
And there it was: Lauren L, spot 87 (if memory serves, don’t quote me on that).
(I have to say, nothing makes you feel quite like you’re living the high life like seeing your name on the Hertz Gold Plus Rewards member board—perhaps besides getting Delta Gold Medallion Status and being bumped up to first class that one time for a forty-five minute flight from Detroit to Kalamazoo. But man, for those forty-five minutes was I living large, baby!)
Hertz may be the Delta of rental car companies (princess emoji, princess emoji)—but sometimes, it’s nice to have a known, consistent entity when traveling to new places! Just my opinion, though. (Also, nothing beats the French pronunciation of Hertz—eerrtz.)
Unfortunately for me, in a day full of travel hurdles and mishaps, there were still more obstacles left to overcome.
First, I couldn’t find the numbered spot my car was in. Turns out, spot 87 is not in one of the neatly lined parallel rows, but off to the side of the lot along the fence. So after some wandering about …
Ah, finally found it.
My Polestar 2 was a white sedan that had ambitions of being a mid-sized SUV when it grew up. I had to admit in that golden LA evening sun, she was sleek and she was sexy, and I’m not even a car gal.
Open the doors (with actual handles, yay!), put bags inside, sit down in the drivers seat, and … uh, now what?
Getting started with the Polestar 2
Anyone who’s rented a car knows, there’s a learning curve with any new vehicle you drive. How does it handle? How fast does it accelerate? Is it quick on its tires or more of a tank? And where’s the damn windshield wipers when you need them?
It occurred to me then that a little preparation might’ve gone a long way. Should I have watched a Youtube video or two prior to getting into the vehicle? Sure. But sometimes I’m just a live and learn by the seat of my pants kinda gal.
Otherwise known as the endearing trait of stubbornness. To my credit, however the tale unfolds, it usually ends in a good story!
So, here we are, in the midst of the comedy that is me trying to figure out how this damn thing works.
How do I start it?
How do I turn it off?
How do I control the climate?
Got a keyless fob. Great. I’ve been here before.
But wait, there’s no push to start button?
Nope. The Polestar 2 is on and ready to go when you get in with the key fob. (It turns off when you walk away.)
Okay, great. But first things first, sitting in an LA parking lot with the evening sun blasting into the car, how the actual fuck did one turn the a/c on?
Like other EV’s, everything is controlled via a giant screen like an iPad. Which, to be honest, is a hard switch for tactical, mechanical users like myself. I like to be able to feel things like raised buttons, to actually physically turn climate and volume dials. So analog. So retro, I know.
Thankfully, volume control in the Polestar 2 is a mechanical dial. Very satisfying, indeed.
It took me about a good ten minutes to get a lay of the land, so to speak. I finally figured out how to control the climate, the radio, the volume, the GPS. It is not un-figure-out-able, but if you’re in a pinch for time (I kinda was due to my aforementioned delays), you might want to do some studying before the exam.
So here’s what I wish I knew before getting behind the wheel of the Polestar 2:
- Take pictures and videos of interior and exterior
- Take photos of fuel level and mileage >>> As a rule, I always try to return rental cars at the same fuel level as I got it
Give yourself ten minutes to get acquainted with your new ride.
Some things I always like to familiarize myself with before getting on the road:
- sideview mirror controls
- headlights
- windshield wipers
- seat controls
- climate control
- volume
- cruise control
- windows (learned this the hard way the one time I rented a BMW and didn’t know how to roll down the window at a border crossing in Texas. Honestly surprised they didn’t search the vehicle)
Locking + Unlocking the Polestar 2
- Locking and unlocking will indicate with a beep and the sideview windows will fold in (when locked) and fold out (when unlocked)
- Walking up to the car with the key fob in hand or on your person will unlock the doors
- Walking away with the key fob will lock it
- To unlock manually, press and hold the long slim rectangle on the exterior door handle or touch the inside of the handle (as will happen when you go to open the door)
- To lock with the key fob, hit the lock on the side—the car will beep and the sideview mirrors will fold in
Center control panel of the Polestar 2
- On the monitor, you can get back to the main home screen by hitting the small white rectangle on the bottom middle of the device (like an iPhone)
- Climate control is on the bottom of the Home Screen
- Integrated with Google maps
- Backup camera and 360 views around vehicle
Other controls in the Polestar 2
- There’s a wireless charger on the left hand side under the monitor (in front of the gear shift and volume dial), there’s also USB ports here
- To adjust the steering wheel, pull the mechanical latch on the underside of the steering wheel and then it will be free to move up, down, in or out
- On the ride hand side of the steering wheel, you’ll see a button with two overlapping squares. This allows you toggle between views on the drivers display
- Neat trick: if you have the key fob on you, to open the trunk, just swipe your foot under the car (under the license plate) and do the same thing to close
Shifting into gear in the Polestar 2
As I said earlier, the car is on as soon as you get in it with the key fob. All you need to do is shift into gear.
- Brake and then shift into gear
- Drive is two clicks down
- Reverse is all the way up
- Neutral is central
- To Park, hit the P button below the gear shift
Charge and range in the Polestar 2
Range and battery level are shown on the drivers display and on the monitor.
The Google Maps integration will show you the predicted state of charge upon arrival to your destination.
What you need to know about charging the Polestar 2
The real anxiety, after the learning curve of figuring out how to actually start and use the vehicle, is charging the damn thing.
It’s not that you don’t have to think about fuel when driving a traditional combustion engine vehicle. It’s just that there’s gas stations aplenty and it takes a few minutes.
But EV’s do take significantly more time to fuel up. So you must account for that. And unlike a gas-powered vehicle, if you run out of juice, you just make your way to the nearest gas station, fill up a handy red gas tank, and then fill ‘er up.
What do you do if you run out of juice in an EV? I didn’t want to find out.
Charging time on the Polestar 2
To fully charge from 0% to 100% battery takes about 8 hours.
Though you can top off on smaller charging times of as little as half an hour.
To go from 30% charge to 90% plan on about an hour (and $23)
To find an EV charging station near you >> on the Home Screen, Google Maps will be in the upper left hand corner, press the gas/charging station icon and it will show you all the nearby ones.
We tried to use one in the covered and shaded Target parking lot while doing some shopping, but we definitely did not set it up right. So that didn’t take.
I also tried to charge it in the parking garage across the street from the Hollywood Roosevelt, only to realize, valet could charge it for me. So that’s what I did. For the four days I was there, I charged it once at valet parking.
Where to find EV charging stations:
- Target
- Hotel valet
- Parking garages
- Mall parking lots
- There are even some on street parking
Charging the Polestar 2
Some charging stations take credit cards, others require you to set up an account on an app.
You can find cables in the trunk if you’re charging from home or a place that doesn’t already have cables.
Hooking up the charging port is much the same as inserting a gas pump. You’ll hear the charger click into place. You’ll follow the steps on the charging station interface to authorize charges and control how much charge you want (much like a gas pump). When the charging starts, the charging socket will show a green LED light and the drivers display inside will glow with a green ring and show the estimated charge time left.
On the display monitor, under Charge, you can set how much charge you want to limit to. Polestar recommends charging to 90%.
To stop charging, hit the little button next to the charging port to unlock and remove the charging cable. And you’re on your way again!
The electric car experience
Overall, driving an electric car is a very enjoyable experience with not much of a learning curve.
Polestar 2 Pros
Driving the Polestar II was:
- Very quiet
- Dare I say, smoother
- Quick on its tires
The craziest thing for me, driving in this new environment, was the ultra-techy, somehow aerial view that came on the screen when I was waiting at a traffic light in a sea of cars. From above, it showed the Polestar’s proximity to the cars around it.
Polestar 2 Cons
The weirdest things for me were:
1. How quiet it was
2. Not quite knowing if the car was on or off because it was so quiet
3. How the car abruptly stopped moving every time you took your foot off the gas
I’ll admit, it was a little stop and go there for a while. As in: I’d stop suddenly and lurch forward into the seatbelt, then press the gas and slam back into the seat. As someone taught on the ways of feathering the gas and gliding off acceleration, it took me a while (like a good day or two) to drive without relying on coasting.
Also, I’d never noticed just how much I coasted when I drove. Learn something new everyday!
You can change this in the drive settings by turning Creep on and turning One Pedal Drive off to coast.
It also took me some time to figure out how to turn the car off and if it was actually on or off when I parked and left the vehicle. It turns off when you put it in Park and walk away with the key fob, without having to do anything.
What you need to know about driving EVs:
- EV’s stop moving the second you take your foot off the gas — no coasting here
- EV’s turn off when parked and the key fob is removed
Here are some great Youtube tutorials:
- Polestar 2 tutorial and overview
- Renting a polestar 2 from hertz
- I rented a 2023 Polestar 2 from Hertz >>> walks you through the whole charging process
Driving in LA
Driving the 14 miles from LAX to the Hollywood Roosevelt at 6pm took me upwards of forty-five minutes to an hour. The traffic itself wasn’t actually too bad (in my opinion), but it was a lot of city roads as opposed to highway (I avoided the 405 and 110 entirely for this part).
What you need to know about driving in LA:
- Nerve wracking when you have to make a lot of L turns in the city
- Speed limits are “slow” by my Detroit standards
- 35-40 mph on roads
- 55 mph on highway
- Drivers also drive slow, and I was pleasantly surprised how much space most drivers left in front of them
- LA, very similarly to Nashville, is the definition and embodiment of urban sprawl. I don’t want to name names or blame blames, but someone was asleep at the wheel during those city planning meetings
Parking in LA
I did valet at the Hollywood Roosevelt and when we explored La Brea we found street parking. There are several garages around Hollywood Boulevard.
The area around Hollywood Boulevard and the Hollywood Roosevelt (you should def pop in for a drink if you’re not staying there), is very walkable. There are also scooters.
Valet: $65/night = $200
LA parking = $6
Santa Monica garage = $20
Uber = $70
And then there was a police helicopter
The day after I arrived, was a lovely spring LA day, and I decided the best use of my time would be to peruse some vintage stores on La Brea before heading out to Descanso gardens.
Jet Rag Vintage is a mere mile, and two turns, away from the Hollywood Roosevelt.
All was going well until I ran into a police blockade and sheriff’s helicopter parked (landed? Do helicopters park?) smack dab in the middle of the median between Santa Monica boulevard and Lexington.
Above, five helicopters circled overhead.
Legitimately, my first thought was: are they filming something?
I was in LA afterall.
As I was rerouted onto Lexington, through a rather cute little neighborhood full of Spanish colonial and mission revival homes, I saw some employees from the gas company and thought, wait a minute.
The gears in my head turned.
Police barricade. Police helicopters. Gas company employees.
Hostage situation? Stand off?
While I was slowly rerouted through the neighborhood, I found the news report online. And sure enough, I’d managed to run myself right into a situation.
(Turns out, a woman was accidentally shot in a different apartment. And the apartment the police thought the suspect was barricaded in was actually empty except for some pets. So, the situation was not really a situation at all, but I was detoured, nevertheless.)
So, plans to shop and caffeinate thwarted, I rerouted to Descanso Gardens.
On my hour-ish drive out there …
>> I had to cut across 5 lanes on the 101 North in 3/4 of a mile (Ahhhhh! I’ve found it helps to scream out loud in these situations)
>> Accidentally found where all the RVS in LA are parked (Forest Lawn)
>> Somehow, improbably, also where you can find roadside vendors selling flower bouquets out of their trucks and vans for all your pull-up-and-over drive-thru/stop-and-go flower needs
>> Five people on horseback
>> And the WB studios (Hi, Stars Hollow! Hi, Central Perk!)
One afternoon, after breakfast at Clark Street Diner, we took the scenic Mulholland drive with all its views and winding roads and tall palm trees.
The other kinda crazy driving experience I had in LA was driving to Santa Monica.
It was easter Sunday and we wanted to go check out the Santa Monica pier for all those Rocket Power vibes.
LA was sunny and 70 degrees when we left the city heading west for the coast. And slowly, but surely, on I-10, we somehow crossed over into a parallel dimension of cool, thick fog.
When we finally made it through the traffic in Santa Monica (oy vey!), parked in a parking garage (more on that in a sec), and got out of the car, it had dropped nearly fifteen degrees! It was cold, it was wet, and it was low-visibility with fog. Our shorts and t-shirts suddenly felt very inadequate (I almost bought an I heart Santa Monica hoodie, but we kept it moving).
The fog was so thick off the water you could barely see the ocean from the sidewalk along the beach or from the pier.
It was wild!
Note about parking in Santa Monica: all the parking garages look the exact same. So remember which one (they’re all numbered) you parked in. You can always look at your ticket if you have it on you.
Learned this the hard way when we forget where we’d parked, started searching aimlessly in the fog for anything that looked familiar, only to finally take a look at the parking ticket (we were five seconds away from having to start a grid search. Seriously, I had a plane to catch!)
All obstacles and adventures aside, I found driving in LA to be overall pretty pleasant. But that’s just my take.
Frequently Asked Questions
The Polestar 2 is on and ready to go when you get in with the key fob. (It turns off when you walk away.)
The Polestar 2 automatically turns off (and locks) when you put the car in Park and walk away with the key fob.
The Polestar 2 will lock when in Park and you walk away with the key fob. It will unlock when you approach with the key fob. Locking and unlocking will indicate with a beep and the sideview windows will fold in (when locked) and fold out (when unlocked).
To unlock manually, press and hold the long slim rectangle on the exterior door handle or touch the inside of the handle (as will happen when you go to open the door).
On the gear shift:
Drive is two clicks down
Reverse is all the way up
Neutral is central
To Park, hit the P button below the gear shift
To fully charge from 0% to 100% battery takes about 8 hours.
Though you can top off on smaller charging times of as little as half an hour.
To go from 30% charge to 90% plan on about an hour
A 60-70% charge will cost about $30 USD.
The easiest way is to search for nearest charging stations in Google Maps.
You can also find charging stations at:
Target
Hotel valet
Parking garages
Mall parking lots
There are even some on street parking
When the charging starts, the charging socket will show a green LED light, and inside the car, the drivers display will glow with a green ring and show the estimated charge time left.
Yes! For me it was the cheapest option and there is plenty of charging stations in the city.
Not at all! It’s not all that different from driving a regular car and actually a lot of fun!
In the drive settings, turn Creep on and turn One Pedal Drive off to get the same coasting feeling you get with a combustion engine vehicle.
Yes! Los Angeles is very spread out and public transportation is not great. Areas like Hollywood Boulevard are walkable, but to get around from downtown, to the beach, to sights like Rodeo Drive, Hollywood sign, and Griffith Park you will want your own vehicle.
Renting a car in LA is a must for getting out and about and exploring all the city has to offer. And what could possibly more California than to rent an electric car while you’re there?
What Is It Like To Drive an Electric Car? My Experience with Polestar 2 in Los Angeles
If you’ve been wondering what it is like drive an electric car, taking some time beforehand to get acquainted with your EV will go a long way in helping you to feel comfortable and confident behind the wheel. But as my experience with the Polestar 2 in Los Angeles goes to show, nothing teaches quite like experience. You can do this, I promise!
I’ll write more about all things LA in an upcoming post!
Until then,
Adventure Awaits!
About Lauren
Reader, writer, traveller, itinerary-creator & mapmaker extraordinaire
Detroit-born, Nashville-bent, everywhere-bound, some of her favorite things include drinking coffee, eating in roadside diners frequented by locals and truckers alike, reading entire guidebooks front to back, visiting local bookshops, spirit questing in New Mexico, watching wildlife documentaries, listening to unapologetic amounts of Taylor Swift, and sitting in aisle seats. To name a few.
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