Subaru is offering Solterra customers 10 free days of Just DRIVE™ rental for use of another Subaru

This is probably that you can take it for long trips. I have heard of other manufacturers doing the same.

tymateusz said:

This is probably that you can take it for long trips. I have heard of other manufacturers doing the same.

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I agree with this. ^^

My understanding of the program is so that folks who own a particular Subaru can take advantage of a different Subaru model for a purpose where it might be better. Long distance travel might be one of those things if one needs more space for people/cargo for the trip or in the case of an EV owner, an ICE vehicle that can do the distance into place where charging would be impossible. This could be a really nice benefit, honestly, given charging infrastructure isn't going to be ubiquitous for a long time.

tymateusz said:

This is probably that you can take it for long trips. I have heard of other manufacturers doing the same.

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I live in Nebraska which doesn’t have the most robust charging infrastructure yet. I don’t road trip much, and one of the things I decided when deciding to pursue an ev was to just be ok with the idea that if I had a long trip I would just look at renting an ice car. So for me this make sense and may be a benefit.

IF there's a participating Just DRIVE retailer in your area. Maybe they're still rolling this out, but two distant ZIP codes I checked (1 in IL, 1 in NY) both reported "Sorry there are no participating retailers near you. Subaru Just Drive Rental is not offered within 50 miles of 12345, but please check back soon as we are continuously expanding."

JayEM said:

IF there's a participating Just DRIVE retailer in your area. Maybe they're still rolling this out, but two distant ZIP codes I checked (1 in IL, 1 in NY) both reported "Sorry there are no participating retailers near you. Subaru Just Drive Rental is not offered within 50 miles of 12345, but please check back soon as we are continuously expanding."

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I just checked and same result for me in Nebraska. There are no EVgo chargers near me, and I doubt the Qmerit thing will service my area either. Might not be missing out on much though, since they haven't actually shared what discounts are available through these partnerships.

I agree with the others that the Just Drive rental is meant to ease potential EV buyers' mind about what they'll do in situations where they need to take a longer trip. Actually seems like a great idea to me. Mazda announced a similar offer with their 100-mile range MX-30 EV, too.

When I first got the email, clicking the Qmerit link took me to a Qmerit web page where it asked for my name and other info. I didn't enter anything, but now it give a Page Not Found error. I was hoping to get some more details on what the offer is.

It looks like there are 5 EVGo chargers in Wisconsin. That's not looking too helpful for me at this point!

Nice that Subaru is doing something for the early adopters, though! Another thing they could do for me is come in at a reasonable price!

They're talking about discounts for both home charging and on the road. But, no details yet on what those discounts are. Qmerit doesn't have the Solterra in their database yet. My local dealer wasn't familiar with the email mentioning Qmerit, EVgo and Just Drive. But, I just got the email from SoA today.

According to the Texas EV Charging Dashboard (ArcGIS Dashboards), there are a whopping total 60 eVgo charging stations in Texas. That's roughly one eVgo charging station for every 5000 square miles. Yee Haw!

If eVgo really has 46,000 charging stations, some of you folks are living really high on the hog.

No Just Drive rentals in my area, either.

I have 3 dealerships in my area who participate in Just Drive, but I checked through the end of August, and none of them have any vehicles available.

3 eVgo stations in Colorado, all in the Denver metro area, none convenient to interstates.

I already installed a 220v/50A line to a NEMA 14-52 outlet in my garage, and have no use for Qmerit install services. I haven't purchased a charger yet, but am leaning towards the Grizzl-e Duo solely due to it's ability to hook up two vehicles. If other units come out with duo models I would consider them. It would be nice if the Qmerit deal offered discounts on chargers.

LiquidIQ said:

3 eVgo stations in Colorado, all in the Denver metro area, none convenient to interstates.

I already installed a 220v/50A line to a NEMA 14-52 outlet in my garage, and have no use for Qmerit install services. I haven't purchased a charger yet, but am leaning towards the Grizzl-e Duo solely due to it's ability to hook up two vehicles. If other units come out with duo models I would consider them. It would be nice if the Qmerit deal offered discounts on chargers.

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I'm wondering if EVGo tends to be more in metro areas rather than on interstates. The 5 in Wisconsin in Milwaukee (at natural food stores) and Madison.

I went through the web site at Qmerit and they had for EVSE purchases -- Wallbox and JiuceBox -- if ordered from their site. Click the Shop link. Will be interesting to see what the actual discount is through Subaru -- the charging stations themselves or just the installation service.

@md., check your state for EVSE tax credits & rebates. It might save you as much or more than any possible discount through Qmerit.

LiquidIQ said:

It would be nice if the Qmerit deal offered discounts on chargers.

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If you go to the Qmerit website and click on the "shop" tab, it takes you to a page where they offer two different level two chargers at a 10% discount which may be better than nothing

Solterra1 said:

If you go to the Qmerit website and click on the "shop" tab, it takes you to a page where they offer two different level two chargers at a 10% discount which may be better than nothing

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Here is a link to what Chevy is doing with Qmerit. Home Charging Installation | Chevrolet it may be a similar model to Subaru and may not be anything like what Subaru is doing with them.

bob E said:

According to the Texas EV Charging Dashboard (ArcGIS Dashboards), there are a whopping total 60 eVgo charging stations in Texas. That's roughly one eVgo charging station for every 5000 square miles. Yee Haw!

If eVgo really has 46,000 charging stations, some of you folks are living really high on the hog.

No Just Drive rentals in my area, either.

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According to EVgo, "EVgo drivers can currently enjoy roaming access on the ChargePoint network." So, that gives you extra choices within your EVgo account.

StevenH said:

According to EVgo, "EVgo drivers can currently enjoy roaming access on the ChargePoint network." So, that gives you extra choices within your EVgo account.

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Good to know. I use ChargePoint more than EVgo (more useful locations), but I have accounts on both networks. EVgo is actually preferable, from that standpoint, they don't require you to have a reserve balance in your account, they just bill each charging session to your stored payment method at the end of the session.

StevenH said:

According to EVgo, "EVgo drivers can currently enjoy roaming access on the ChargePoint network." So, that gives you extra choices within your EVgo account.

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Do you think any benefits resulting from the Subaru/EVGo partnership would extend to the ChargePoint network? I'm not sure that I would count on that.

I don't really understand the "EVgo drivers can currently enjoy roaming access on the ChargePoint network" statement. (Not from you, but from EVGo's standpoint.) Can't anyone just get an account on ChargePoint, too, rather than using their EVGo account at a ChargePoint station? I don't have an EV yet, but I would think that I will just end up with accounts on whatever charging networks I end up using. Adding them as I plan trips that I think will require a different network or if I find myself needing a charge from a network that I haven't used before.

So excited to see a Solterra email in my inbox this week. Surprised the news would be delivered on a Friday but whatever. I followed the Qmerit link immediately just to find Subaru>2023>Solterra wasn't an option. Waited a few hours thinking someone would fix the link because it's pretty major news. Got a 404 error. Subaru isn't even listed on their partners page.

I don't work in corporate communications but this seems like a fail. If they can't coordinate messaging with a partnership launch, I'm hesitant to rely on them for the install of a level 2 charger.

My local power utility is offering some great cash rebates on home EV chargers but not the install. I'm hoping to go that route.

I hope the next Solterra email from Subaru contains some useful nuggets, not broken links.