Range Anxiety: Myth or Fact?

[AndyH]

From the Plug In America June newsletter.

Range Anxiety: Myth or Fact?

I have a big time range-anxiety confession to make: In 2001, when my friend Lisa Rosen offered to let me borrow her EV1 for one gas-free week, I was frankly unsettled. Nice offer, but what if I ran out of juice? I might be late to work or miss an appointment or get stranded by the side of the road or . . . my imagination ran wild.

So WHO exactly am I now to judge anyone else's range anxiety? I admit it. I have developed an unbecoming attitude of arrogance concerning my nearly 10-year history with electric cars. I've been known to cast judgmental aspersions in the general direction of the EV meek, mild or uninitiated -- easily and conveniently forgetting the hysterical three-dimensional range anxiety I wrestled with back in the day.

So how did I conquer my anxiety without Xanax? Something strange happened during what I now call "the week of the EV1." The tension started to just slip away as easily as the car slid down the freeway. I enjoyed masterfully whipping Lisa's 120-voltage cord out of the EV1's trunk and plugging it into a standard outlet in the parking-structure wall of the courthouse where I worked as a court reporter. I felt like some kind of high-tech Charlie's Angel for mainlining electricity and couldn't wait to glide sleekly and silently home at workday's end.

The question then arose: Should I throw my husband Howard's professional hat in the ring to beg, plead and bargain for a fleet-leased RAV4 EV? He runs an optometric business and could have qualified. William Korthof, owner of EE Solar, solved my "dilemma" and abruptly halted such inane pussy footing around. He actually RENTED a RAV for me to drive for another week of plug-in bliss. Who needs Xanax when you have a mentor like Lisa to encourage a whole new way of experiencing transportation and a solar installer like William to insist upon it?

Love. I fell head-over-heels in love with electric cars. And gas stations blurred blissfully into my own personal past. Forever and ever.

It can happen to you, too.

Amen,
Linda Nicholes

 

[adric22]

To be honest, I think the real problem is in our association with a car running out of gas. For example, the Leaf with its 100 mile range is about equivalent to setting out on a trip in a Prius with 2 gallons of gas in the car. Which means the gas guage would be showing nearly empty. A gasoline car usually doesn't give a good measurement of how much fuel is remaining. My 2010 Honda Insight actually has a "range" screen that will actually show you how many miles the car has left based on the amount of fuel in the car. However, I still worry about that because how accurate is that gas guage when you get down to the last few miles? So if I were driving down the freeway in my Prius or even my Insight with the fuel reading empty, I would have a lot of anxiety because I would be wondering if the car is going to die any minute.

With an electric car, I believe the remaining range should be very obvious and accurate to the driver down the last mile. So you aren't going to have to worry about driving down the road and it just dying unexpectedly. I also imagine the car will start to warn you when you start to get low. That should give you plenty of time to get off the highway, find somewhere to recharge if need be.. Or if you were thinking about making one more out-of-the way stop, you'd be able to see that you'd be better off going home and recharging.

So when people talk trash about electric cars saying "I'll see them all over the sides of the road, out of power." that is just nonsense. I suppose there's the oddball chance you may see some parked in parking lots of wal-mart and target without sufficient power to return home. But nobody will be any the wiser that they aren't just parked there shopping. But I doubt anyone would be dumb enough to keep driving down the highway when the range meter is telling you that you have less than a mile of electricity left.

 

[DeaneG]

The nice thing about an EV is that you start each day with a full "tank". It's just a smaller tank.

 

[garygid]

If you drive only short distances, range anxiety will be a myth.

But, start off e-full and it says "100 miles". Then, you go 10 miles toward work and it says "80 miles". Then, by the time you are 5 miles from work (a 50 mile drive on the freeway), it says "6 miles" ... will you make it?

That situation, I believe, would tend to reinforce a real "range anxiety".

So, the next time you drive slower, but there is a head-wind, or different traffic, or rain, or it is hot and you need the A/C, or some combination.
Again, will you make it, or do you need to stop someplace for an "e-fix"?

A lot of learning will likely be required before one can become confident in evaluating the requirements for successfully making a "random" 50-mile trip.

 

[evnow]

Range Anxiety is real only for who push the limits ...

If I intend to drive no more than 50 miles, then I'm as free of range anxiety as I'm of earthquake anxiety or car accident anxiety or ...

 

[garygid]

Good luck in going 50 miles if you are doing fast freeway driving, stop and go on hills, using the A/C, etc., or some combination.

Please let us know how your no-anxiety tests come out.

 

[evnow]

.. using the A/C, etc., ...

Sure, as soon as we get the damn Sun out in Seattle :roll:

 

[AndyH]

Good luck in going 50 miles if you are doing fast freeway driving, stop and go on hills, using the A/C, etc., or some combination.

Please let us know how your no-anxiety tests come out.

Maybe you're not a good candidate for an EV. I recommend a 1-ton pickup with a diesel engine and dual fuel tanks. Possibly an add-on fuel tank in the bed. Excellent hill climbing, no range worries, 500,000 miles + on the engine.

I've run out of gasoline and diesel in various vehicles, from snowmobiles thru dirt bikes, road bikes, and cars. One learns after a while if they choose to. My current car was run until the fuel gauge was in the 1/8 tank remaining area. I put it in the garage, pulled the fuel line, and let the fuel pump run until it started sucking air. I pulled the instrument cluster and reset the needle on the fuel gauge so it read zero gallons. No more worries.

It's a hell of a lot easier to overcome fear sooner rather than later. Letting it take control only helps it grow until we're in the fetal position under the bed. Nuts to that.

Argue for your limitations and they're yours.
Richard Bach

I plan to push the range pseudo-limits early and often. First mission is to learn the electronics so I know if I can trust the range displays. It's a lot easier to color very, very close to the lines once we know where the lines are.

 

[garygid]

One might criticize people for having an "anxiety", but that does not eliminate the reality of dealing with the LEAF's much reduced range "limits", nor does it help "normal" people learn to deal with these real range issues.

By simply considering an "anxiety" a weakness, you might be overlooking those of us who care if we get home on time. Is having "RCI" (Range Concern Issues) any better?

 

[Nubo]

I do think AndyH makes one good point -- an EV is not for everyone. I think Nissan is very cognizant of that and is taking care to foster understanding and to seed the car to early adopters based on the car's "fit" to their driving requirements and lifestyle situation. It certainly does no good to anyone if it ends up in the "wrong hands" in terms of range vs. expectations. I would say if, by launch time, someone has looked closely at the available information and is still suffering from range anxiety, they may be better off at least waiting for the first wave of early adopters to put the car through its paces in the real world.

(scans the line ahead to see if anyone is stepping away :lol: )

 

[garygid]

Yes, the LEAF is not a "perfect" or "easy" fit to my driving, but I am looking forward to finding ways to make it perform well enough to be really useful, rather than just a short-range "go shopping" vehicle, which it could easily do.

Another interest is in developing methods and aids that will help the average person use their EV more fully, perhaps "REMP" (Range Extending Mental Planning).

Actually, the LEAF should match my wife's driving needs easily, but it is "ugly" in her eyes, and a lot of money just for short, but frequent trips and only a few thousand miles a year.

So, we shall see what happens as we learn more.

 

[BrendanDolan]

I'm not terribly worried based on my driving habits. My car gets a whopping 18-20mpg on premium, so I try not to drive it much anyway. Round trip to and from the office is 25 miles, and any stops I make are usually in between those two points.

Odd side note is when I fly my RC planes, I set timers for battery usage. I know through trial and error by checking what I've used post flight that if I'm doing wide open throttle aerobatics, I get 11 minutes with a 2 minute buffer till the speed control cuts the power to prevent over discharging the LiPo's. 15 min plus 2 if I'm loafing around at 2/3 throttle flying scale. When I get a new plane, I do a 3 min flight, then a 5, then a 7, then a 9, then an 11 etc so I know exactly what to expect.

I see the Leaf being the same way, as I'll just end up keeping to my normal routine which isn't pushing the limits, and then slowly expanding out from there.

 

[garygid]

Good plan, especially if you keep track of driving conditions, accessories, etc.

 

[AndyH]

That's the whole reason I posted the letter from PIA to begin with. It describes EXACTLY the transition from an 'EV n00b' with fears attached, to someone that's actually spent some time in the water and can't remember was all the fuss was about! The intended message was 'chill out and see what the car does when it gets here', then make a decision!

The more we think negative, and focus on lack and limit, the more deeply we ingrain the thought of lack and limit - and the more we create a huge wall of limit out of thin air.

Gary - the most stinging comment in my flight training record from many years ago had only two words - Salvaged Landings. It's a lot better to abort, regroup, rethink, then execute a good landing with a safety margin rather than try to build something marginal out of doo-doo. It's going to work or it's not.

(Put another way - wisdom from a Jody Call: "Left a good job in the city - wasn't right, wasn't right, so it must be left.") :lol:

At the very least - leave the range anxiety BS to the general public and misguided press. Our job as EVers (if we choose this portion!) is to promote clean transportation - not continue to shoot ourselves in the foot.

Brendan and Nubo - I think you've both got it! We don't go to Lowes for plywood on a bicycle, and don't expect a F350 to get 45mpg. If we need to drive 98 miles one way on the interstate to go to work, then this isn't the car for us. Mission/need first, vehicle second.

Carry on, Gentlemen!
Andy

crawling off to rebuild some positivity...

 

[LEAFer]

Our job as EVers (if we choose this portion!) is to promote clean transportation - not continue to shoot ourselves in the foot.

+1
"[Our] mission, should [we] decide to accept it ..." is to promote clean transportation ... and wean the world off oil.

 

[Jimmydreams]

Food for thought: don't use what you 'think' are numbers, track them!

I 'thought' my commute would average 60 mph....but today on the way home from work I used my ScanGuage to run the numbers: I set my cruise control to 63mph on the freeway, and my 29.8 mile door-to-door trip home ran an average of 48mph. MUCH lower than I would have thought. This should extend my expected range of a Leaf. At a cruise control setting of 73 mph, my average speed was 61.

Run the actual numbers and you might be surprised. I was.

 

[MikeBoxwell]

Yes. Everyone over estimates how fast they travel over a total journey. However, range anxiety is a fact for everyone who first gets an electric car. The fuel gauge goes down much quicker than it does in a 'normal' vehicle. Its a psychological thing. Once you've got the confidence in the car, however, you'll find that you don't worry about it.

You still tend to drive more economically on longer journeys with an electric car, even if you know you've got enough range. For shorter trips, you can drive however you like.

A while back I wrote an article about electric car range anxiety: http://www.owningelectriccar.com/electric-car-range.html

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

anyone who does not have a level of range anxiety should be shot, or crazy. but that level should be manageable. thousands of people run out of gas everyday in vehicles that have 500 mile range, so the actual range is not an issue, its simply a number to consider, nothing less, nothing more.

and now, what really confuses me is people here, fully aware of the range and limitations of battery technology whining because they cant get 100 mile range at 75 mph. like DUH!! .... i mean the sky is blue but your favorite color is green!! what u gonna do about it??

who says u have to drive at any speed?? the posted speed limit is the MAXIMUM speed. ya that's right!!! i am surprised at how many people who have been driving think that is the minimum speed. and no. if you drive below the posted speed limit, U WILL NOT BE RUN OVER!!. and if you are on a multi-lane road, u will notice that there are a bunch of people driving slower than u anyway. so figure it out!!

move or slow down... hope that is not too many options for u to think about

now with that, EV's are not for everyone.

*if you only have one vehicle, i would have to say...no way

* if both of you commute more than 70 miles daily... probably not

* if you live in high density housing without a garage, etc... no, at least not for now. that will change but that will take at least 5 years in some areas. others maybe 10.

*if you currently pay $400 a month for gas, can afford it and think thats ok...no. u r an a**hole and dont deserve one!!

 

[adric22]

The more we think negative, and focus on lack and limit, the more deeply we ingrain the thought of lack and limit

I agree - I've seen a lot of people (especially on other websites that aren't specifically catered to EV enthusiasts) constantly talk trash about electric cars. The range is probably the #1 complaint I see, followed closely by complaints of the "inconvenience" of having to plug the car in. I'd say the 3rd most popular complaint is the cost. And it is funny because that is all these people see when they think of an electric car. They think of all the features they are loosing. But they don't seem to consider the things they are gaining.

For me, I don't look at plugging in to be inconvenient. I look at it as a privilege. What I find inconvenient is trying to fit into my schedule a trip to the gas station when my car is running low. I have range anxiety in my gas car if I don't have time to stop at the station and just go on to work. Will I make it to work? Will I make it to a gas station on the way home before I run out? Plugging in is awesome. I'll start out each morning with a full tank, and I don't have to go anywhere to get my fuel.

The cost for me is negligible. I prefer to look at what I'll save.

• No Gas
• No Oil changes
• cheaper inspection sticker (no emissions test)
• no brakes (well, not for 150,000 miles or so anyway)
• no belts to change
• No air filters, PCV valves, vacuum hoses, spark plugs, oxygen sensors, catalytic converters, EGR valves, etc.. to have to worry about replacing.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

The cost for me is negligible. I prefer to look at what I'll save.

• No Gas
• No Oil changes
• cheaper inspection sticker (no emissions test)
• no brakes (well, not for 150,000 miles or so anyway)
• no belts to change
• No air filters, PCV valves, vacuum hoses, spark plugs, oxygen sensors, catalytic converters, EGR valves, etc.. to have to worry about replacing.

the cost of the alternative is not negible. as BP, its 20 Billion and that is just the beginning.

as for me, all u stated is part of it, but in the grand scheme of things; the biggest thing for me is no guilt. i have a 3 year old. what am i to tell him when he is older and i have to explain to him that he does not have a healthy environment to live in or raise his children due to my oil habits??