Passenger "range anxiety"

[MaryC]

I have had the Leaf since early May and I am very comfortable taking it out for longer and longer trips. However now whenever I have a passenger they are the ones that are not sure we will make it. Anyone else experience this?

 

[mxp]

I have had the Leaf since early May and I am very comfortable taking it out for longer and longer trips. However now whenever I have a passenger they are the ones that are not sure we will make it. Anyone else experience this?

Not to worry if one passenger. Different story if u have 3 passengers.

 

[thankyouOB]

do they worry about getting a flat tire in other cars.
assure them, that if you get to your destination and it appears you have too little charge to get home, you will plug in at a dealership for an hour.

 

[ERG4ALL]

I had that happen just the other night. We drove into town, picked up some friends from their motel and went to dinner and drove back to their motel. We had gone about 20 miles on an 80% charge and had about 50 miles left. As we were taking them back to their motel he asked if we had enough charge to get home. He was sitting right in the front passenger seat and could see all the read-outs but still had anxiety. I told him its okay, you just have to get used to driving on a quarter tank of gas. He said he doesn't like to drive with less than a half tank of gas.

 

[dznit]

Range Anxiety: How far can we drive on oil from terrorist sympathizers?

 

[thankyouOB]

I had that happen just the other night. We drove into town, picked up some friends from their motel and went to dinner and drove back to their motel. We had gone about 20 miles on an 80% charge and had about 50 miles left. As we were taking them back to their motel he asked if we had enough charge to get home. He was sitting right in the front passenger seat and could see all the read-outs but still had anxiety. I told him its okay, you just have to get used to driving on a quarter tank of gas. He said he doesn't like to drive with less than a half tank of gas.

they are paying an awful lot in blood and pollution to assuage a very easily managed defect in their way of looking at transportation.

in many ways, less range is a feature, not a bug. it teaches better driving.

 

[tzzhc4]

My wife sometimes gets concerned about range when we go out in the evening. Not so much will we make it more will we need to charge and be out later than the kids bedtimes.

 

[Boomer23]

We got a "battery low charge" warning with 6 miles of range on the guessometer and the whole family in the car the other evening, about 5 miles from home. No problem, we were at the top of the biggest hill in the area, I put the LEAF in ECO mode and we got home with 6 miles still showing. But my wife now says that she's less likely to trust me when I tell her we have plenty of charge left to take the LEAF instead of the Prius. Who's crazy here? It's her, right, not me? Right. Thanks.

 

[davewill]

Who's crazy here? It's her, right, not me? Right. Thanks.

Neither. It's the car's fault. By hiding so much of the range, it ends up CREATING anxiety where none need exist. Six miles of range showing means 12-16 miles before you're really out. Couple that with the downhill run home and there was no danger at all. But for someone who takes the car at it's word, like your wife, it looks like you ran it down to the last mile.

 

[Devin]

I actually got more range anxiety in the Prius than I have ever felt in the LEAF. The gen2 Prius guess-gauge could mean anywhere from 0.1 to 3 gallons of gas left when you reach the last two "pips" (as told to me by one of the chief technician trainers for Toyota USA). Once we hit the last two blocks we immediately search for the nearest gas station. In the LEAF I am much more comfortable with making an assessment of range based on the feedback from the gauges.

My girlfriend is the only person who has really exhibited range anxiety but that was eliminated after I drove her Civic GX back from Westlake Village to Woodland Hills with the fuel meter in the red. She was very nervous about making it to the Clean Energy CNG station but I said it'd be no problem with a little hyper-miling. I drove back, we made it to the station with no problem, and all was well with the world. I think that was the most expensive fill-up in that car though, a whopping $15!! After that experience she has never worried about the range in the LEAF since I got it. Having driven the Civic for two years now she's also used to somewhat limited range and scarce/dodgy fueling infrastructure so she "gets it."

At least with the Leaf we always have the trickle charger in a pinch. If the Civic runs out it's not like you can go fetch a can of CNG or hook up to your home NG plumbing. Although I've had many people tell me I should just use a BBQ tank to carry it. When those people ask me for car buying advice I recommend a Prius. Wouldn't want them trying to hook a BBQ tank up to a 3600PSI CNG pump. :shock:

My parents now have gas-anxiety when driving their Volt. My mother demands I hand over the electrical socket when she comes to visit us as she doesn't want to have the range extender fire up on their way home. The one thing I will say about the Volt is their range remaining display is amazingly accurate. If they drive the LEAF it will take a little coaching to get them to understand the LEAF gauge is not as spot-on as the Volt.

 

[Anonymous]

I have more range anxiety in my SUV now than in my Leaf. Every morning the Leaf is fully charged (i.e. "full tank") but since I'm hardly ever driving the SUV it's a question every time I get in it as to whether I'm going to have to swing by the gas station first... And usually I'm too late to have the time to pump the gas, so I'm always HOPING that I have enough gas to make it where I'm going.

I've come to really like the idea of filling up at home and always having my full range available to me, no matter what that range might be.

 

[Boomer23]

Who's crazy here? It's her, right, not me? Right. Thanks.

Neither. It's the car's fault. By hiding so much of the range, it ends up CREATING anxiety where none need exist. Six miles of range showing means 12-16 miles before you're really out. Couple that with the downhill run home and there was no danger at all. But for someone who takes the car at it's word, like your wife, it looks like you ran it down to the last mile.

The other factor was that we had just climbed that big hill, so the LEAF was using recent driving as an (inaccurate) measure of future energy economy to estimate that 6 miles of guessometer range. And my reassurance to the family that we had plenty of range just a few minutes earlier was based on the 2 bars and 13 miles of guessometer range showing just before we started climbing the hill.

 

[EVDrive]

Yep it's her... Your wife sounds like mine. I like to drive alone, reduces the stress of having to convince someone who thinks i'm overly optimistic that we can make a 70 - 80 mile round trip

We got a "battery low charge" warning with 6 miles of range on the guessometer and the whole family in the car the other evening, about 5 miles from home. No problem, we were at the top of the biggest hill in the area, I put the LEAF in ECO mode and we got home with 6 miles still showing. But my wife now says that she's less likely to trust me when I tell her we have plenty of charge left to take the LEAF instead of the Prius. Who's crazy here? It's her, right, not me? Right. Thanks.

 

[LEAFfan]

We got a "battery low charge" warning with 6 miles of range on the guessometer and the whole family in the car the other evening, about 5 miles from home. But my wife now says that she's less likely to trust me when I tell her we have plenty of charge left to take the LEAF instead of the Prius. Who's crazy here? It's her, right, not me? Right. Thanks.

Ya, it's she. Just tell her that when you get the LBW (no matter what number is on the GOM), you still have 20 miles left at 38mph, 16 @ 50, etc.

 

[smkettner]

As far as passanger range anxiety DW has asked a few times when she sees the miles if we will make it. Say LEAF says 35 miles I tell her it is just 10 miles there and 10 back we should make it. Then she tells me the destination is less than 10 miles away......

The other instance we are two miles from home and the low battery warning pops up with about six miles remaining. DW reaches to turn off the air. I said I don't think that is needed as we still have three times the range needed. I let her find the nearest charging station (home) so she could feel like she had helped.

 

[TRONZ]

My wife has only "reminded" me of the range when we do a long trip in Eco. I figure it's because I never drive in Eco unless I have to, so she is on guard. Once making a wrong turn onto the 91 and getting home with 5 miles remaining probably did not help. She really loves the LEAF though. It a member of the family now.