Customers are already making reservations to rent Tesla electric cars from a company opening soon at the Strip’s newest resort.
A startup company called EVolve EV Rentals will offer Tesla Model 3, Model Y, Model S and premium Model X vehicles, with Resorts World Las Vegas as the pick-up and drop-off location. The business is scheduled be operational by June.
John Marino, the company’s president, said the firm was confident about making a similar deal with another Strip resort in early 2020, but the onset of the coronavirus pandemic derailed that plan.
Once Las Vegas started to return to some semblance of normalcy, the firm revisited the original plan, but the people who had been negotiating with EVolve were no longer with the resort, Marino said.
The company had contemplated launching its Tesla rental service in Minnesota, but the winters there are cold and not ideal for electric vehicle battery life.
“We wanted to be in Las Vegas,” he said. “In a warmer climate, the range for batteries is a lot better. We were able to find a partner in Resorts World where it made a lot of sense for us.”
Resorts World is expected to soon open its Vegas Loop passenger stop for the Boring Company underground transportation system, which runs beneath the nearby Las Vegas Convention Center campus.
With that system, Tesla vehicles are driven along tunneled roadways. Since it can be difficult to rent Teslas, Marino said, the hope is that EVolve will become popular in Las Vegas.
To start, the company will have a fleet of 25 Teslas, three of which are Model X cars. The cars retail from about $40,000 to more than $100,000.
Marino said he hopes to add 25 more Teslas to the fleet by the end of the year, and the company likely will add other electric vehicle brands to its stable as time goes on.
“Unless a person buys a Model S or a Model X, it’s not terribly easy to be able to drive these vehicles,” Marino said.
As of last week, the company was waiting for final approval from the state to be able to rent the cars, which can be reserved for a day, weekend or week.
The cheapest Tesla starts a $199 a day. Renters must be at least 21 years old.
“When someone’s renting a Tesla, it’s not really your car to get from point A to point B,” said Jackson Clay, manager of the EVolve rental desk at Resorts World. “It’s more of an experience. We’re planning to expand throughout the West to places like Phoenix and Los Angeles and other cities. Possibly Florida, eventually, too.”
Clay said the Teslas that EVolve will offer will have a range of at least 300 miles on a single battery charge.
That means Las Vegas visitors can easily take one of the cars not only up and down the Strip but to popular nearby destinations like Valley of Fire State Park, the Hoover Dam, Red Rock Canyon and even the Grand Canyon’s west rim.
“We’re not going to be a volume business,” Jackson said. “We’re not going to have people lined up out the door. With every rental, the customer will get a demonstration so they’re comfortable behind the wheel. We’ll make sure people have all the tools to be comfortable before they drive off the property.”
Part of the reason Resorts World was interested in the partnership was EVolve’s commitment to environmental sustainability, resort president Scott Sibella said.
“Giving visitors the opportunity to conveniently rent a Tesla is a great way to enhance their rental experience and add to our overall efforts to provide guests with sustainable options across the resort,” Sibella said in a statement.
EVolve customers won’t have to be Resorts World guests, but there is a coupon code that people staying at the resort can use.
The rental desk, once it’s fully up and running, will employ about six people.
“These cars are very user-friendly and very fun to drive,” Clay said. “One of the great things, too, is that these are carbon-neutral vehicles, so they’re great for the environment.”
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