Renting an electric car in Italy had a learning curve. I would do it again.

• Last spring, my friends and I accidentally rented an electric car during a trip to Italy.
• The rental had a learning curve. We loaded at slow stations and spent hours in unplanned cities.
• These unplanned moments became a highlight of our trip and we fell in love with our EV rental.

The car was completely silent when panic broke out among my group of friends.

We had just spent four unplanned hours charging our electric rental car in Lake Como, Italy. By the time we got back to the charging station the car battery was still not full.

Based on quick calculations, it would take us 12 hours to travel from Lake Como to Florence, Italy, with necessary stops for recharging. We had allowed five hours for the drive.

I’m looking forward to the rest of our trip and it felt seemingly impossible to have enough time to enjoy our destinations, catch our scheduled flights and charge our EV.

A friend started calling our car rental company, hoping we could trade in our automatic electric car for a gas car.

I hopped on Google to find out how people manage life with electric cars when they take so long to charge.

Then we realized our mistake: we had used a low voltage charger. With a high-voltage charger, it only takes 30 minutes to get our car’s battery up to 80%.

Our panic turned to laughter. And while we were relieved that we wouldn’t have to spend the entire vacation waiting for our EV to charge, we still weren’t sure if we would regret renting an EV.

But even after all the hassle, I would do it again.

Planning our days around charging

Last spring I arrived at Milano Linate Airport and went to the car rental kiosk with a friend.

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An employee went through all the details of our rental. She verified our dates, confirmed that our car was an automatic, and finally handed us a plastic credit card.

This, she explained, would be the card we would use to charge the car.

After seeing our confused faces, she made it clear that we would be getting an electric car. It wasn’t our choice. Instead, it was our only option because we needed an automatic vehicle.

We figured it wouldn’t be a problem, so we grabbed the keys to our Mokka SUV. After meeting our other two friends, we headed to Lake Como.

We had enough cargo to take us to and around Lake Como for three days. On the fourth day we urgently needed to recharge.

Then we made the tension mistake, the first of many mistakes. During the trip we forgot to keep an eye on the battery several times, resulting in a stressful search for the nearest charger.

We also discovered that we couldn’t trust the car’s estimated mileage. Depending on the road, the EV battery discharges at different rates. For example, we ran out of fuel much faster on highways than driving through a small Italian town.

So even when we planned charging stops, plans had to be changed based on our car’s needs.

TThese unplanned stops were a highlight of our two-week trip

We drove into Piacenza, an Italian town I had never heard of. It is located between Lake Como and Florence, in the northernmost point of the Italian region of Emilia.

Our car battery was low, so we thought we might as well take advantage of the forced stop and explore the city.

We drank Aperol spritzes, ate gelato and admired the city’s churches and architecture.

While exploring we learned about the history of Piacenza. France conquered the city several times in the Middle Ages, so the French influence can still be seen everywhere in the Italian city.

If we had had a petrol car we would never have stopped in Piacenza. Instead we would have gone through the small town and spent more time in touristy Florence.

A few days later we stopped in Sasso Marconi, where our group explored a local market and met friendly, older Italian men at a local cafe.

These afternoon spots in smaller towns gave us a glimpse into a version of Italy I hadn’t seen before. Since most of my time in the country was focused on tourist destinations, the electric car forced us to explore Italian spots under the radar.

It also saved us money. Charging our electric car was included in our rental price, so we didn’t have to worry about petrol for the entire trip.

It was also nice to know that my trip had a slightly lower carbon footprint, as electric vehicles typically emit fewer greenhouse gases.

Between these three benefits, I would easily rent an EV again.