It was a bit past 1:00 AM when we arrived a the Avis car rental facility at the Boston airport on our way back from Cúcuta, Colombia. We knew we still had about two hours to drive before our heads would find a pillow that night.
D-22 was the parking space that the Avis app on my phone said would have our car for the next five days. When we found row D and turned left I saw it. An EV! Yes! An ELECTRIC vehicle. That's right, no, it's not a hybrid. This car doesn't use any gasoline. I went into shock. Now what?
Well, "It is what it is," I told myself and we loaded our carryon suitcases in the back. After a few minutes I figured out how to start it and noticed the little spinner knob to put it in D, N or R. Oh and the little button for P. The dashboard was overwhelming! So many options. It was information overload!
I was still in shock, but what was I to do?
I twisted the little circle on the console and made the "D" light up. And... off we went. I had gone about 57 feet and I was in shock again. "Wait... how will I charge this thing?" No, no, no, I told myself, I can't take this thing out of here, we need a GV, a gas vehicle! So, I pushed on the brakes, drove around row E and F and took that car right back to parking space D-22.
Naty didn't blame me. We unloaded our carryons and went in the building to request another car. When we found our way to the Avis desk, there must have been about 60 people in the cue! Yes, 60+ people at 1:15 AM! Now what? I called customer service. 1-800-PLEASE HELP ME!
The kind young man on the other end of the call let me know that he couldn't change my vehicle, only the person at the desk (on the other side of the other 60 people in front of me) could help me with that.
"Maybe you should just try the electric car," he suggested.
"How am I supposed to charge it?" I asked him.
"Just Google it," he replied.
"Of course!" I thought. Google and YouTube could surely show me how to drive and charge a Kia Niro EV!
I looked one last time at the 60 people in front of me in line. "You've got to embrace this brave new world." I told myself. And Naty and I started walking toward parking space D-22 for the second time.
"Yeah, electric vehicles aren't that complicated," the hopeful customer service voice told me as we walked back outside. "You can look up EV charging stations on Google Maps and you'll know where to go."
So we loaded up our suitcases for the second time, watched a minute or two of a YouTube video about the Kia Niro EV, pushed the start button, turned the little dial to D, and started driving toward Warwick, MA.
Sometimes you just have to just embrace change and go for it!
Oh, and yes, after a few attempts we did find where to charge the car so we could go back to Boston again!
