They need to ban memberships, subscriptions, apps, etc, and make it like fuel cars, you turn up, you plug it and pay with a card visa, master, etc, or cash and done.
I deliver Amazon packages in the central belt of Scotland in a 24 Leaf, and each run I do I have no idea where I'm going as it's random. I've had it for just over a year, I love it.
Public charging is an utter joke. There needs to be proper hubs of reliable chargers everywhere just like petrol stations. Not in council, sports centres car parks etc where they get ice'd or blocked constantly. Anyway looks like public charging is going crazy expensive so can see myself going down the PHEV route or just a cheap economical petrol.
Can't agree with this more. It makes owning an EV for longer journey's a proper chore. Can you imagine the same for fossil cars? Get to the station and it's closed/not working/wrong payment type/not a member! Not just once, but every time to you go out!
@@Eb3nez3r I agree that we need proper hubs. Buying a phev or petrol because a rapid is 'expensive' is a silly idea, since even rapid charging is cheaper than running a petrol car and who rapids all the time? And for your last point - you can't put diesel in a petrol car, and visa versa, so isn't that equivalent to the few differences in cables?
@@PH8592 Yes but a cheap economical petrol is hugely cheaper than the same sized EV to buy. Rapid charging is getting pretty steep so narrows the gap. Don't get me wrong, I love my little EV purchased before prices shot up but it's only any use for local runs. Long runs are for the diesel with 800 mile range. I know some folk like to take lots of long stops but I don't. Sure if you have a Tesla then that's a different story but I prefer traveling the world to an expensive car.
speaking from experience, it took about three months of daily driving to completely get over it. Initially it was a thing because it was new, and then you learn how it works and you're good to go.
Good common sense points. Should give confidence to non EV drivers range is easily manageable although the lack of infrastructure here in Australia is more of a challenge than UK. Great video, keep up the good work 👍
My first plug in EV was a PHEV with around 40 miles of range, 95% of my driving was completely electric and I went months between using the engine at all. I bought it because the Model 3 and Chevy Bolt EV weren't out yet and I felt like I needed the extra range that they provide, but after having it for a few years I ended up replacing it with an e-Golf as I realized I really don't need hundreds of miles of range. So range anxiety has never been a fear of mine when driving around town, but longer trips do cause a bit of anxiety from the fear that chargers won't work. There is a good network of fast charging stations in and north of my state in the US so most longer trips are fine too, but I took a roundtrip 600 mile vacation south of me which was a little inconvenient because one leg of my journey had zero fast chargers. No charging stations failed thankfully, but I had a backup for each one just in case. I am looking forward to a time when we won't need to plan out backup charging stations.
Last year the nearest fast charger was 11.2 miles away from me and know I have three 50kW chargers within less than 2 miles and 12 slower 7kW chargers within 2 miles, the change is massive and only within 6 months.
I have a 24kWH Leaf and drove to my Aunt's funeral in Norwich at the beginning of March. On the way there (170 miles), no issues. The wind behind me, a dry and warm day, top up in Coventry and a second charge in Kettering before going to Thetford for a last top-up before Norwich. On the way back I charged to 90% at a Nissan dealer before heading back to Thetford. The charger I had used that morning, gave an error before refusing to charge. No problem I think, there are two Instavolt chargers less than a mile away, got there and both gave me an Error 21 before refusing to charge. At this point I'm wondering if the car is at fault (it wasn't). Checked Zap-Map and found a Nissan dealer, when I got there it was gone and a bit of research found it had been shut over 2 years ago. Limped to Newmarket and charged on a 7kW post outside a hotel until I had enough power to reach at least two rapid chargers. Finally got to Cambridge North Services and found an Electric Highway Charger on free vend, charged to 90% and then went home via Kettering and Coventry both of which were still working! Even taking the fact that I'd gone out for a meal in Newmarket whilst the car was charging it took me six hours to do 170 miles, because of the woeful lack of charging infrastructure.
Haha, I had to visit a flat we have in another town. I left with a low SOC knowing there were 2 rapids and 8 fast chargers over two different networks. All were offline!? I had to crawl home at 20mph. Sadly similar situations have happened loads of times. No guarantees a charging hub will work 247. Cheers
The ability the charge at home (try the equivalent of that with an ICE vehicle) mitigates range anxiety a lot. But on longer trips, you're right: forward planning is key.
@@donsmanbcc In the future, when I get my EV, over the weekends, I'll be making my own fuel on my roof for the week ahead. Can you do that with your ICE? And when fully charged, I could do 3 weeks without plugging in.
@@ElectricVehicleMan Your current dodgem could be charged over the weekend to nearly full and on a similar driving distance, you might not need to charge for two weeks. Caveat: unless he has a 1000-mile diesel and drives 500 miles a week.
Unfortunately, you start with an assumption! I, and many others, do not have the ability to charge at home. Until I can, I will not be buying an electric car, however much I want one.
On any journey where I have to recharge I have a number of alternatives, it just makes sense. Unfortunately there are many people who don't think like that and they are the ones that get themselves into trouble. At the moment the take up of electric car ownership is largely by people who are enthusiastic and willing to do their homework, hopefully by the time that Jo public are buying EVs we will have the reliable and extensive network that they will demand.
Good video, plenty common sense from a proper Yorkshire lad in plain terms. I`m a 30Kw Leaf owner who has also experienced this and on reflection I came to the same conclusion that it was my fault. Only thing I feel you could have added, even now was to factor in extra time on a long journey to account for range. My first journey in the Leaf was from Sheffield to Dumfries the day after I collected it but I was a boy scout ! in those days it was free juice and we did over 1000 miles for nowt. Result !!
New owner of an EV here, an MG EV ZS (so not a great range). Only done one road trip where I needed to use a Polar rapid charger along the route. It worked but wouldn’t stop charging when I wanted it to. So phoned Polar and experienced anxiety as it took ages for them to answer and I needed to get on. That evaporated when they sorted it and cancelled the cost. I have used by way of practice Instavolt, Shell Recharge, Electric Highway, EV Charge Online, Charge Your Car and Genie Point. They all worked fine. I’m thinking of finding an Ionity just to see if they are as good as they are cracked up to be notwithstanding the cost but, as far as I’m concerned, there seem to be few reasons to be anxious. So I don’t suffer range anxiety, but when driving my old volvo diesel I did suffer fuel cost anxiety, breaking down anxiety, can’t hear myself think anxiety, why can’t I hear Radio 3 anxiety (massive improvement there), stalling at the lights or when pulling out anxiety. I also don’t suffer from tail gating anxiety as I can always pull away from the BMW/Audi/Subaru who is so far up my arse you’d have thought I would have kissed them first. I suppose things might be different on a really long road trip in winter, but anybody who is capable of planning really should be alright, I expect to always go to the penultimate charger so, if it is broken, I can get to the next.
I’ve had range anxiety several times in an ICEd vehicle. Most notably when the needle has gone to zero and I’m on the moors with the next pump 8mi+ away. I did once run out of fuel with a trials bike. That was one of the longest 11mi pushes up and over the moors, before the days of mobile phones. The bike only weighed 83kg/183LBs dry but it still took an entire afternoon. My advice, if you don’t want to walk, don’t run out of juice. And no I couldn’t tell by the fuel gauge. Competition trials bike, so no gauge. However, the few LBs in weight of emergency tools and spares, were an ever constant comfort to me. Knowing that if I got a puncture or got bored during the push and wanted to change a plug, mend a chain, clean filters or repair my wet weather clothing, I had everything I needed.
Totally agree with all of this. We've been lobbying our local council and just this week we've had 2 new rapids switched on with another 3 in the pipeline. For years we've had just 2 for the whole county
Once again a good plateful of food for thought. In the 70s we had a Triumph 2.5PI which did 17mpg whatever the conditions but was a fabulous car in its time. We followed this with 4 Land Rover which were often towing stock trailers full of pigs so we didn't bother counting fuel consumption. Now we have a Prius and fill up after doing around 350 miles. We have an e-Niro on the sometime on the future order system so we aren't particularly worried.
Just about to order my first EV for delivery in Sept. Nice explanation of range anxiety. As you so rightly say, for commuting you should never ever experience any anxiety, unless due to human error you forget to charge the car up. You have been very much instrumental in my ordering an EV. Well done and thank you.
As a 17 year old driver, many moons ago, I constantly had range anxiety use to put a gallon or two in the car when I could afford it! never filled the car and always running out, thankfully dad to the rescue. They were the day when 28 to the gallon on a ford popular was good going.
We have an mg zs ev and we don't worry about range at all! - just like our old petrol cars, you work out before you make a journey whether you have the range to complete it. If not, you schedule a fuel stop. With our MG, there's never been a "fuel stop" as it's always full every morning, so we always have the charge to make the journey (it's good for a reliable 140 miles in all weathers and seasons - 160 miles in summer). We've charged it from public chargers on a few occasions, just to learn the process, but we simply don't worry about range! Before we bought the car (our first EV) it was a big concern for us, but we really needn't have worried at all. My wife uses the car most, for commuting and shopping, and all journeys are well within the range. We took it for it's first long journey in a while today (130 miles round trip) which was 3 1/2 hours driving (with three short stops) - that's all we could have managed without a long refueling stop ourselves, let alone the car!! Again, no range anxiety as the GOM (range meter in the car) has proved completely trust-worthy, so we knew we'd be home with 30-40 miles in hand. People need to know that as long as you can trust the GOM, range anxiety is a non-issue. BTW, we use the car a lot more than our old petrol, as it's currently costing us about 1p per mile!!!
We live in the far South west have a 2015 leaf techna24kw the battery always shows around 83 miles on a 100 % charge it does 99% of our journeys with a home charge at 80% We have gone to Derby Doncaster Peterbough several times, we stop twice to three times more to charge than we stopped with the diesal but at less than a tenth of the cost who cares😊 Over the moon with it back to 80% in the time it takes to have a coffee and walk our dog 😊 no range issues here.
I don't suffer from range anxiety for the most part, the guess-o-meter is pretty accurate and I usually don't go any further then the nearest big cities. Where there are DCFCs. My real anxiety comes from worrying about getting to a DCFC and it being out of service with nothing within my remaining range.
With that amount of common sense presenting you'd never get a job on the Daily Mail. My wife although she doesn't drive gets range anxiety.. The other day we got home with 6% on my 40kW LEAF, which to me is plenty, 10 miles i would imagine. I generally start looking when i'm at the 30% mark when i'm out and about, but if i know I'm going to make it home then of course getting home at 0-1% is the aim, so you've spent less on public charging and make the most of your cheaper electricity at home
Not seen one of your videos in ages! Not sure what’s going on with my subscriptions?? Last I saw you had decided against getting a Model 3 because it was too expensive. Now I see you sitting in one😊. Nice one! Hope u are enjoying it.
I still get a little bit anxious when my car gets to about 20%. Having said that the range with 20% is about 50miles. I’ve driven 2 electric cars over the past 4 years....
Tesla should have a failure, where you could run on empty, by telling us that the battery is at 0% when it's actually at 20%. So when it would blink red empty, we'd still have range to go to the next power station.
I have owned several ICE vehicles (cars and bikes) in the past that had a "Reserve" fuel limit. When reached, just twist a tap and access to remaining fuel was granted.
Yes, charging hubs are the way forward at least in the short to medium term, especially on Motorway Service Areas and major trunk roads. Hopelessly inadequate at the moment, not so much range between them, but reliability of the charge points.
Hi I was shopping at my local supermarket yesterday and I was looking at the vast range of car magazines that they have and I couldn’t see one magazine devoted to electric cars.
I've been driving for about 15 years, with the last 21 months or so in an EV. The only time in my life I've experienced range anxiety was within a year or so of passing my test, when I was driving back from Cardiff to my home in north Wales. The tank was empty and I had planned to fill up at Builth Wells. The petrol station was closed! So I limped all the way to Newtown before I found an open petrol station and it was the most anxiety inducing trip I've ever made. I've not yet experienced anything like that in my Zoe.
I ran my env200 24kw for 2 years and had some close calls, upgraded to 40kw in may now with 160 mile range I can work comfortably knowing I will never use that in a day. As for long trips I feel all chargers should be chip and pin, I was stuck in Harrogate last year in the Tesla had to limp to Leeds for a charge when the polar wouldn't recognise my app.
Anxiety of any sort is the fear of the unknown. In my E.V. I have ample information to help me make good decisions regarding where I can go and when and where to charge. The last time I had range anxiety was in my last ICE vehicle, late at night as I passed one closed filling station after another, and no information on where the next open station was. E.V. charge stations are generally open 24/7 and my car tells me where they are, if they are available and working and if my car will make it on the charge I have at the moment.
I've owned my EV since March and it is a different mindset: you just need to be aware of the car's capabilities and plan accordingly. I now know from experience that a full charge will get me 180-ish miles around town on a good day; a bit less in the winter. I always aim to charge it back up as soon as I hit an 80-mile buffer. Conversely, this week my EV is in for warranty paintwork repair and I've had to use a petrol courtesy car. I'm so loathe to spend money on fuel that the orange light is on constantly!
I am thinking about upgrading my ZE40. Test driven the Zoe ZE50 and E 208. Think I prefer the 208. Lower range than the ZE50 so I guess range isn't an key issue for me, in fact it isn't an issue on the ZE40 either. I had a look at Zap map and 100 kw chargers springing up everywhere. One reason I fancy the 208 but more a case of fancying a change.
I completely agree with your assessment. Range anxiety certainly exists, but it is pretty much always self inflicted. I can think of 3 specific events over the past 3 years where I got real range anxiety. I don't ever get range anxiety during my normal commute. All the EVs I've owned had plenty of range for daily commuting. My partner and I just opted for longer range EVs because we do take road trips quite often and don't want to own a separate commuter car and a road trip car. We instead have 2 cars that can easily do commuting and road trips with very little effort or concern required. First was in my first electric car, a 2017 Kia Soul EV with the 27kwh battery. It had a best case range of about 100 miles, more like 90 in real world. I live at an apartment where we share a couple L2 chargers with the community (not only the apartment but also anyone who happens to drive by, they are put on the street near the apartment). The SOC was at about 50% since I hadn't charged the night before due to both chargers being occupied at the time I parked. So, about 45 miles of range on the GOM. I had about 35 miles of driving I needed to do, so I figured I'd have enough to do everything I needed and charge when I returned. Well, what I hadn't considered (this was only a few months after we first got the car) is that running the AC further reduces the range, as do the hills that are around my apartment. By the time I got back to the charger, it was in full turtle mode with a top speed of about 5 miles an hour. I basically coasted to the charger. At that point, there were no fast chargers anywhere around my apartment, but it was still a totally avoidable situation. Even just charging the car for an hour before I ran my errands would have totally avoided the problem. 2nd time was in my 2019 Chevy Bolt. Again, just recently got the car. It may actually have been my first long trip in it. I was driving a longer stretch on the local interstate and there is a gap of about 50 miles between fast chargers. As I was about to pass the fast charger, I had 70 miles on the GOM and 50 to get to the next charger, which was near my destination, so I skipped the fast charger and kept driving. Well, immediately after that charger, the terrain got hilly and curvy, which I knew but failed to take into account (again). I arrived at the fast charger with no range showing on the GOM and 3% SOC. 3rd time was actually when I was making a video that hasn't been released yet for my upcoming UA-cam channel Wrenching Fool. In my 2020 Hyundai Kona EV, I was doing an efficiency test while while fully loaded to test the effect that weight has on efficiency. I got to the fast charger (an Electrify America location) with 33 miles left on the GOM, 12% SOC and all of the chargers were offline except one, which was being blocked by an e-tron that was unoccupied and apparently trying to charge to 100% (probably because it was free for them). There was another fast charge option, but Plugshare listed it as very unreliable. It was about 30 miles to the next major city which has lots of DCFC, but I was a little too close on range to be comfortable. I ended up having to wait about 20 minutes at the first charger before the e-tron owner came back out to their car (shortly after it hit 100%). To be clear, I wasn't out of options, there were plenty of L2 chargers around that I could have used and charged enough to make it to the next DCFC comfortably, it just would have taken longer. Another instance that happened just recently was not so much range anxiety but more having to overplan my route due to lack of chargers. It was in my 2020 Hyundai Kona EV, and my partner and I wanted to make a trip to the beach. Unfortunately, up until just recently, there were absolutely no fast chargers anywhere on the Oregon coast. There has been one that just recently opened in May. The Kona has enough range for us to drive directly to the closest beach to us and back to the apartment on a single charge (there is a mountain range we have to go over to get there) but it does not have enough range to drive further north or south along the beach and still make it back. We wanted to make a few stops along the way, so in order to do that, we had to go a bit out of the way to make all the stops we wanted plus reroute to the fast charger. We made it there with like 15% in the battery and actually charged more than we needed while eating lunch, but if not for the extra planning and route modification to make it work, it would have been a problem. In Oregon, there are basically no fast chargers anywhere west of the main interstate (I-5).
My Zoe is in the showroom and I’ll have it on Wednesday. For me, the anxiety is “Is the charge point going to work!”. Will I reach another (with food etc). As we travel on motorways and would plan to go to Service Stations for toilet breaks and meals, we need the Electric Highway to work!
I used to have range anxiety in the ICE car due to an unreliable fuel gauge and no way of knowing where the petrol stations are. I now get charger anxiety instead. Without home charging EV ownership has gone from doable to challenging due to COVID. I naively didn't realise how many locations on ZapMap have been turned off or could be easily removed from the network overnight if the site owners changed their mind. Ironically the most reliable chargers are owed by BP and Shell!
Good video, nice to say that they are the same (ICI &electric) but they are different, you just have to get your head around what it can and carnt do and how to adopt your thinking
Instavolt Hubs are in Necton, Norfolk (8 chargers) and soon near Banbury on M40 (8 chargers) and they even have a smaller hub in Sheffield (4 chargers)
Running out of range may be the driver's fault in the UK, but in Australia, there are plenty of areas with no rapid chargers. I have owned my Model 3 Performance for just over 6 months and have experienced range anxiety once. I was driving from Melbourne to Mildura, distance of 600 km (372 mi). I charged to full in Bendigo and therefore had a leg of 400 km (249 mi) to Mildura, with no other charging options, which the car predicted we could do with 9% charge on arrival. However, we had rain and strong winds which signficantly affect range. We had to slow down to 80 km/h (50 mph) and turn everything off and made it with 10 km left.
It's interesting how regional this issue is. I live in the USA in an area that , for this country, buys a lot of electric cars. Just about any flavor of EV, including Tesla, are in stock and available for immediate purchase. The smallish dealer I bought my Kona from had 6 in stock. The dealer I bought my Bolt from had 10 in stock. All 3 EVs I've owned (2017 Soul EV, 2019 Bolt, 2020 Kona EV) were purchased heavily discounted, well beyond what the government incentives offered.
Being a two year e-Golf "veteran" (140 W - 160 S range) for almost all journeys I simply have range awareness. That means the evening before I think; do I have enough range for what I need tomorrow? Plug it in or not at home on that basis. For the 5 - 10 times a year I do a journey longer than the practical range then there's a small amount of planning on where to stop with alternates and contingencies. For as long as it costs me £2.25 to do those 150 miles, £0 for VEL, £120 service cost every 20,000 I am sticking to my BEV and quite happy to put up with the minor and infrequent inconveniences. Oh and thank you very much ICE drivers for paying 60% tax on your fuel prices, keeps my tax bill down!
I had a few issues in the first few weeks. I couldn't charge at home, there were no public chargers in Torquay. I couldn't charge at work, a 56 miles commute. But I soon found how to fit charging into my routine and I don't have problems these days. We even have 1 rapid in Torquay! I do check to see how well I can do on regen frequently. I think all networks such as Instavolt should have to support AC charging too. I have a ZOE and a Kangoo and the electric motorbike arrives next week. AC will have its place for a long time to come with cars/vans and there will be many more people riding electric scooters/motorbikes that will need AC to support them on some trips.
Completely agree with a lot of comments below, it's not range that bothers me but, in order: 1) "will the charger work" anxiety, followed by - 2) "I know there's only two chargers and what if I have to wait ages or it's ice'd" anxiety. If the service station chargers were more reliable and there were more of them, I'd be much less bothered; and there'd be less need to bother with a plan B for each longer distance route; and then finally 3) "It's not a charger supplier I've used before, will I be able to get it to work" anxiety i.e please can we just have contactless swipe - plug - charge - contactless swipe to stop standard for all chargers. The apps are handy option to monitor charging if you've gone for a coffee, but shouldn't be essential.
We would need rescue batteries, that we could keep in the trunk to reload for a few miles when we're out. We could even take it, hitch-hike to the next power station, reload the rescue battery, hitch-hike back ad reload the car...
I helped out a Nissan Leaf driver at half past midnight a couple of weeks ago as she couldn’t get the charger to accept her card and Polar couldn’t contact the charger either. She was sat almost in tears on 1% about to call for a tow truck. I offered to try with my Polar Plus card and managed to get the charger to work for her. She’d already been told to move from Lewes to Selmeston by Polar and wasn’t at all happy about the situation.
I have been an EV driver for only two years but have noticed a massive change. I felt like a pioneer for the first six or eight months. People would see me at a charger and come over to ask about ev's and chat. Each long journey was taken with a similar pioneer/adventurer outlook due to the planning required and the risk you were running. This is no longer the case. I am glad I got into it soon enough to experience that time and in many ways will miss it. Tim
Would love to see you do a challenge around the roads from North Wales to Anglesey , then down the Mid Wales coast line via Aberystwyth to St David’s. Along to the start of the M4 at Swansea but head back over the Brecon Beacon back to Chester
I had a model 3 from August last year till this February. And I'm glad I had the 6 month test drive. Because for me range is probably 2 years off where I need it to be. I'd shoot back home from a meeting then have to work out if i had enough range to get to get my son to football training after. You stop at the local lidl for a rapid charge and find there is a queue of people waiting. Give it 2 years and all will be good when I'll prob get a model y.
I've only had range anxiety a couple of times. A little bit of route planning with zap map helped enormously with the first couple of long journeys. As long as you plan ahead, it's a breeze. The only time I've squeaked in to a charger on 1% was due to an unplanned emergency journey, and that was only attainable by switching off the air-con and driving super efficiently!
I had range anxiety the first time I drove the car home (327Km trip, mostly 100/110Km highway, summer, first hour in peak traffic). Made it home with 15% spare range. Never had it since! (although I have been guilty of overconfidence a few times...) :-)
@Electric Vehicle Man So now you have an EV that puts you in a similar situation; Your car runs better on Tesla Chargers (Shell V), but in an emergency, you can use the other networks? 😊
Gd video. As someone with petrol car, short /medium journeys, no problem with EV. Anything +175/200 miles, I'd be adding time to the journey when stopping to charge EV. So it depends on how many 200 mile journeys I'd do. Given Covid, probably spend more holidays in UK, so increase in this type journey a probability. Doesn't appeal.
we just need more chargers not one every 20 or 30 miles or more and more then one charger at each one so there is more likely to be one working But you should set a 3 chargers in a row as a target to charge
I'll not deny, I'm starting to warm to the idea of an EV. But price and availability continue to be stumbling blocks. I'd jump at the chance of a unico...sorry, an E Niro, but even on Kia's own website, you can only book test drives for the hybrids, for some reason. There's definitely a demand, but supply is lagging behind. Starting to look towards the MG, but many of the journeys I do, to places without decent charging, makes it a bit more of a gamble.
I remember talking to people at FCL 2018 about situation in the Baltics. There were only 4 chargers (one of them at VW dealership, therefore CCS-only, but they allow non-VW vehicles to charge) in whole country of Latvia. 43 months later there were 40. Still no Tesla Superchargers though - one is "coming soon" since 2015. But it is now possible to actually drive an EV from UK to the Baltics. There used to be huge gap between Warsaw and Kaunas before. Also, it was a bit difficult to get even to Warsaw, actually.
Seems like every week i see another announcement from Instavolt, so good on them. Another certain charging network, is very quiet. Hopefully IV will buy out their prime locations and increase motorway reliability ten fold.
I find that after a few weeks you realize that it's quite the opposite. You quickly get to a point where range anxiety does not exist at all. Now I should mention that use my EV almost entirely for daily commuting purposes however, that commute is nearly 100 miles each day (about a third of my total range). Even if I choose to run around down town after work I seldom go more than 150 miles in a given day and on occasion I might go 200 miles. That means I never have to stop at a public charger or even think about having to stop at a public charger. Indeed, I've owned my EV for over 3 years driving between 100 and 200 miles each day, and I have never needed to stop at a public charging facility. Since I charge at home I never have to think about the "refueling" process anymore. I pull into my garage every evening and the charging cable is right there waiting for me. I take a second or two to plug the car in before I go into the house. When I get up every morning I have a full tank waiting for me and the car is warmed and defrosted before opening my garage door (couldn't do that with my old gasoline car). Refueling (charging) at home is a MAJOR advantage. Think about it. If you have a gasoline car, and you had a gasoline pump in your driveway, how often would you ever need to go to a gasoline station? For the occasional long trip of more than 300 miles perhaps but how many times per year do most people need to do that?
I tend to get the opposite problem whenever I make long trips across Europe. I plan with ABRP, make an observation of earlier contingency chargers (in case I need to top up earlier) and then frequently arrive at the planned stop too full and that means reduced charging speeds. I need to drive somewhat faster and therefore become less efficient, which is harder than it sounds when you encounter miles of roadworks.
I drive a 24kw leaf in Ireland, charger situation here is a lot worse than in the UK so there are journeys i have made where there was 1 rapid charging option and if that was broken i was screwed. Still, had the car 2 years now and i've never actually run out.
Not a UK resident but have watched many of the UK based EV youtube programs over the past few years and it appears the UK is a world ahead of the US with the number of charging stations around the country. Some of the complaints and comments seem to be based on the way it use to be in the UK. Yes, here in the US and I"m sure in the UK and Europe, many of these privately owned charging networks are NOT as well maintained as the Tesla Charging Network, but the shear number of new locations makes it sound as though that problem is being overcome with quantity rather than quality. The other problem for many in the UK, from what I read, is that many do not have a way of charging at home. The majority of folks buying EV's in the US do it knowing they can charge at home and do not really need to use those charging networks unless they take a driving vacation once a year. They charge at home and never think about range anxiety because the battery is always topped off for day to day use. The same should be true for folks in the UK that have the luxury of a place to charge at home. The remainder are at the mercy of the more costly independent charging networks...but, as EVM notes, if you are a responsible driver, you will make certain that you keep your 'tank' at a reasonable level at all times so that you do not run in the range anxiety problem.
No range anxiety here with my standard range Tesla model 3. On the rare occasion I do a long trip there are now lots of rapid chargers so it’s just fine. ( I haven’t used a rapid charger in 3 months... not even a public slow charger... my model 3 charges at home mostly off solar using my zappi on solar diverter eco ++ mode, rarely put in eco+ mode where it draws 6amps from grid... almost always eco++ mode where it ONLY uses solar. Melbourne, Australia if ure wondering. Used fast charge mode on the zappi once since I bought the car and that was only because I did a big trip one day, then another big trip the next day.... soooo.... it’s all fine.
Charger anxiety is definitely replacing range anxiety. But things are looking up. Near to me at Lancaster a 6 rapid & 12 fast charging hub has been opened only 1min from the motorway. Just need ecotricity to be given a size 24boot out of the industry so these hubs can be set up at every service area.
Yes, range anxiety is really just a proxy for recharging anxiety. Where can I charge ? Will it be working ? Is someone already there ? How long will I have to wait ? Phone apps solve a lot of these problems but there's still a way to go. I arrived at a location at the weekend that had 8 free chargers, but my card worked with none of them. I called customer service and got the message "Due to COVID19 we are working with reduced staff and wait times may be longer" and was on hold for 15 minutes before someone answered (and immediately fixed the problem). Even with prior planning and all the information available there's still much more anxiety over refueling an EV than an ICE vehicle, but actual range is hardly ever a problem. I remember my first car back in the 80's driving around the Valleys of Wales on a Sunday morning, praying that the next little village I came across had a petrol station and it was open.
It’s all down to infrastructure now, there are parts of the UK which are very good and parts that are just appalling like Mid Wales coastal routes from the Midlands (A458/A483/A44,A470) North wales expressway A55 and surrounding towns of it like Denbigh, Rhuthin. As well as the main A41 all the way from the M54 all the way up to Birkenhead only 1 rapid in Chester city centre or only 1 at Ellesmere Port.
@Peter Aspin As said above its the older generations with the chameleon type 2 charger. Which is very safe, almost too safe as if the car doesn't tick off the 50 thousand safety checks it does it won't start a charge. Mines a 2016 model. I'll be going with CCS when I'm due a car change.
winter in my fiat 500e is bit stressful in indiana not chargers eccept home, i do remember a time i got on the highway heading to a camp ground i passed my turn the fireworks sales building was painted all yellow...they painted it grey i passed it and first though was i know miles away to camp to charge , had to pay a tow fee no place in indiana charge republican state
If you do happen to run out of ejuice on the highway, what are your options? Do the breakdown services vans carry high discharge batteries to give your EV an emergency hit to get to the next charge point? Also, do EV's still have a little ejuice in reserve even if the BMS says 0%?
Do you wish you'd kept the LEAF after all the Tesla problems? My brother returned his after taking it back several times and they couldn't fix it. Mainly panel gaps and bits of rubber falling off, and the lights being miss aligned. Also problems with the software on the screen and the app. They just scored lower than Land Rover in the JDPower survey!
Until now the only time I’ve run out is because I thought „I’ll make it“ then the hill came and 0,6 kWh of charge just didn’t cut it. So had to call the breakdown service to do the ride of shame on the back of a truck.
Two weeks into my eNiro life. No range anxiety - I'm more likely to think 'why do I still not need to charge?'. I'm getting about the same range as in my previous ICE car, give or take. I'm more concerned about the reliability of chargers and availability of free spaces - though that is because of what other people say, not my own experience.
Disagree range anxiety is caused mainly by people parking normal petrol or diesel cars in charging bays in car parks. Happens all the time in our town. 😥
My previous car was a diesel. According to specs it had a 50 liter tank. But when I drove it to 0 I only got 43 liters in it. So from that moment on I always drove it to 0 before even thinking of finding a fuel station.
driving slower and increase range, and you can reach next charger in your case "Plan B" if you plan your route, you allways add alternative charging pints and stop at a charger with enough range to reach the next/alternative charger. But like you say, the number of chargers increase monthly fuelstations, back in time, drivers had to stop at drug stores ... they had close in the night and not much "fuel" in store
It's great that the charging network is expanding at a rapid rate but for me currently the cost of EV's are still too expensive for the average household. Either the government grants need to be better or the manufacturers need to produce cheaper models
Hi Folks, On ICE cars fuel gauge and predictive range can be less than accurate. How accurate is power gauge and predicted range in EVs, do they change over time?
First time I tried an electric car I managed to get the battery so low that I actually reached for the door handle in order to put my foot out to give a little push to get the car up the ramp up to the dealer. I did experience a bit of range anxiety then.
Winter time things can get interesting, husband driving back from a golf outing and what should have been an easy trip, the cold just drained the battery from 20% to 0% and limped home in turtle mode!! Scary but hey it happens apparently!!
Of course it exists. I owned a Leaf. Loved the car but range anxiety is REAL!. Never have it with a gas car. And no it's not from lack of preparing. There are too many things that affect the range that cannot be predicted. Plus range lowers as the battery ages. 🤦
Charger reliability is so important,followed by availability.Funny story. About a year ago I pulled in to the polar at a Solstice park Salisbury,Holiday Inn. There was an I Pace charging,no sign of the owner.I waited an hour until he arrived,he was a newbie with a new car and wasn’t happy with the range,anyway he was apologetic.I plugged in and went for a wander,Not 250 yds away was a new unit I hadn’t noticed! I felt like a bit of a fool to say the least.It hadn’t been added to Zap-Map at that time,bye the way.
@@DaveHunterDave thanks, what I've seen in most areas the are plenty of charging locations , but I always had doubts regarding the number of chargers at that location
I'm done with electric cars, I went back to gasoline because of all hassle associated with electric cars and trucks ! No more for me , I've learned my lesson and my " ELECTRIC CAR ANXIETY SYNDROME IS GONE " ... Happy days are here again !!
I have range anxiety, because i no longer need to charge the ZE50 as often as i did the 1st gen Zoe. So it takes me by surprise more often than before.
Not a problem at all because we rarely drive more than 50 miles on a day in our 2014 Nissan Leaf. We have an ICE Toyota also, but it just sits in the driveway. We mostly use that one to bring our rubbish barrels to the street on Thursdays. Local driving is almost 100% of our driving.
My first and only experience of range anxiety was on the way back to London from Bournemouth. To be fair that was all my fault, I should have put it on a destination charger, with only 60 miles of charge and the closest Superchargers being 40 miles away, you can see why I was anxious. However, it was correct, I did make it to the charger with 20 miles left on the battery meter, yes I cut it close but did I need to worry? Not really, the Tesla battery and trip estimator are quite spot on (when set to typical mode instead of rated), and realistically I should have charged it at public or destination charger when we got to Bournemouth.
They need to ban memberships, subscriptions, apps, etc, and make it like fuel cars, you turn up, you plug it and pay with a card visa, master, etc, or cash and done.
Shell have this option, but only at some of their stations.
It’s the only sensible way forwards and the technology is already there and easily implemented
I think Octopus are advancing this option..
How are they going to make money after investing millions ? It yes make the poor folks who can't afford a 35k + car pay for it.
But muh leeching capitalism.
I deliver Amazon packages in the central belt of Scotland in a 24 Leaf, and each run I do I have no idea where I'm going as it's random. I've had it for just over a year, I love it.
I have had range anxiety a few times in an ICE car, but to be honest, I've suffered more bladder anxiety on long journeys :)
😂😂😂
We don't have range anxiety these days - just reliable charger anxiety.
Public charging is an utter joke. There needs to be proper hubs of reliable chargers everywhere just like petrol stations. Not in council, sports centres car parks etc where they get ice'd or blocked constantly. Anyway looks like public charging is going crazy expensive so can see myself going down the PHEV route or just a cheap economical petrol.
Oh and only being able to use certain charges because of the make of your car is off the scale mental... Imagine that with petrol???
Can't agree with this more. It makes owning an EV for longer journey's a proper chore. Can you imagine the same for fossil cars? Get to the station and it's closed/not working/wrong payment type/not a member! Not just once, but every time to you go out!
@@Eb3nez3r I agree that we need proper hubs. Buying a phev or petrol because a rapid is 'expensive' is a silly idea, since even rapid charging is cheaper than running a petrol car and who rapids all the time? And for your last point - you can't put diesel in a petrol car, and visa versa, so isn't that equivalent to the few differences in cables?
@@PH8592 Yes but a cheap economical petrol is hugely cheaper than the same sized EV to buy. Rapid charging is getting pretty steep so narrows the gap. Don't get me wrong, I love my little EV purchased before prices shot up but it's only any use for local runs. Long runs are for the diesel with 800 mile range. I know some folk like to take lots of long stops but I don't. Sure if you have a Tesla then that's a different story but I prefer traveling the world to an expensive car.
I know exactly what range my car can do. So I don't have range anxiety. I have charger anxiety that they will actually be working when I turn up.
speaking from experience, it took about three months of daily driving to completely get over it. Initially it was a thing because it was new, and then you learn how it works and you're good to go.
Watching from a rainy Falkirk in Central Scotland.
Range anxiety well explained, another great video.
Take care, and be safe. 😊🏴
Falkirk with a shiny new CPS charging hub
Good common sense points. Should give confidence to non EV drivers range is easily manageable although the lack of infrastructure here in Australia is more of a challenge than UK. Great video, keep up the good work 👍
My first plug in EV was a PHEV with around 40 miles of range, 95% of my driving was completely electric and I went months between using the engine at all. I bought it because the Model 3 and Chevy Bolt EV weren't out yet and I felt like I needed the extra range that they provide, but after having it for a few years I ended up replacing it with an e-Golf as I realized I really don't need hundreds of miles of range. So range anxiety has never been a fear of mine when driving around town, but longer trips do cause a bit of anxiety from the fear that chargers won't work. There is a good network of fast charging stations in and north of my state in the US so most longer trips are fine too, but I took a roundtrip 600 mile vacation south of me which was a little inconvenient because one leg of my journey had zero fast chargers. No charging stations failed thankfully, but I had a backup for each one just in case. I am looking forward to a time when we won't need to plan out backup charging stations.
Last year the nearest fast charger was 11.2 miles away from me and know I have three 50kW chargers within less than 2 miles and 12 slower 7kW chargers within 2 miles, the change is massive and only within 6 months.
I have a 24kWH Leaf and drove to my Aunt's funeral in Norwich at the beginning of March. On the way there (170 miles), no issues. The wind behind me, a dry and warm day, top up in Coventry and a second charge in Kettering before going to Thetford for a last top-up before Norwich. On the way back I charged to 90% at a Nissan dealer before heading back to Thetford. The charger I had used that morning, gave an error before refusing to charge. No problem I think, there are two Instavolt chargers less than a mile away, got there and both gave me an Error 21 before refusing to charge.
At this point I'm wondering if the car is at fault (it wasn't). Checked Zap-Map and found a Nissan dealer, when I got there it was gone and a bit of research found it had been shut over 2 years ago. Limped to Newmarket and charged on a 7kW post outside a hotel until I had enough power to reach at least two rapid chargers. Finally got to Cambridge North Services and found an Electric Highway Charger on free vend, charged to 90% and then went home via Kettering and Coventry both of which were still working! Even taking the fact that I'd gone out for a meal in Newmarket whilst the car was charging it took me six hours to do 170 miles, because of the woeful lack of charging infrastructure.
Haha, I had to visit a flat we have in another town. I left with a low SOC knowing there were 2 rapids and 8 fast chargers over two different networks. All were offline!? I had to crawl home at 20mph. Sadly similar situations have happened loads of times. No guarantees a charging hub will work 247. Cheers
The ability the charge at home (try the equivalent of that with an ICE vehicle) mitigates range anxiety a lot. But on longer trips, you're right: forward planning is key.
My ICE vehicle runs all week without any attention to the fuel tank, try that in your battery powered dodgem.
@@donsmanbcc In the future, when I get my EV, over the weekends, I'll be making my own fuel on my roof for the week ahead. Can you do that with your ICE? And when fully charged, I could do 3 weeks without plugging in.
That's a good point. However my dodgem costs me £140 per 10,000 miles of fuel (that's 10k). Hmm.
@@ElectricVehicleMan Your current dodgem could be charged over the weekend to nearly full and on a similar driving distance, you might not need to charge for two weeks. Caveat: unless he has a 1000-mile diesel and drives 500 miles a week.
Unfortunately, you start with an assumption! I, and many others, do not have the ability to charge at home. Until I can, I will not be buying an electric car, however much I want one.
On any journey where I have to recharge I have a number of alternatives, it just makes sense. Unfortunately there are many people who don't think like that and they are the ones that get themselves into trouble. At the moment the take up of electric car ownership is largely by people who are enthusiastic and willing to do their homework, hopefully by the time that Jo public are buying EVs we will have the reliable and extensive network that they will demand.
Good video, plenty common sense from a proper Yorkshire lad in plain terms. I`m a 30Kw Leaf owner who has also experienced this and on reflection I came to the same conclusion that it was my fault. Only thing I feel you could have added, even now was to factor in extra time on a long journey to account for range. My first journey in the Leaf was from Sheffield to Dumfries the day after I collected it but I was a boy scout ! in those days it was free juice and we did over 1000 miles for nowt. Result !!
New owner of an EV here, an MG EV ZS (so not a great range). Only done one road trip where I needed to use a Polar rapid charger along the route. It worked but wouldn’t stop charging when I wanted it to. So phoned Polar and experienced anxiety as it took ages for them to answer and I needed to get on. That evaporated when they sorted it and cancelled the cost.
I have used by way of practice Instavolt, Shell Recharge, Electric Highway, EV Charge Online, Charge Your Car and Genie Point. They all worked fine. I’m thinking of finding an Ionity just to see if they are as good as they are cracked up to be notwithstanding the cost but, as far as I’m concerned, there seem to be few reasons to be anxious.
So I don’t suffer range anxiety, but when driving my old volvo diesel I did suffer fuel cost anxiety, breaking down anxiety, can’t hear myself think anxiety, why can’t I hear Radio 3 anxiety (massive improvement there), stalling at the lights or when pulling out anxiety. I also don’t suffer from tail gating anxiety as I can always pull away from the BMW/Audi/Subaru who is so far up my arse you’d have thought I would have kissed them first.
I suppose things might be different on a really long road trip in winter, but anybody who is capable of planning really should be alright, I expect to always go to the penultimate charger so, if it is broken, I can get to the next.
That must be the best explanation and correlation of range anxiety I've heard!
I’ve had range anxiety several times in an ICEd vehicle. Most notably when the needle has gone to zero and I’m on the moors with the next pump 8mi+ away. I did once run out of fuel with a trials bike. That was one of the longest 11mi pushes up and over the moors, before the days of mobile phones. The bike only weighed 83kg/183LBs dry but it still took an entire afternoon. My advice, if you don’t want to walk, don’t run out of juice.
And no I couldn’t tell by the fuel gauge. Competition trials bike, so no gauge. However, the few LBs in weight of emergency tools and spares, were an ever constant comfort to me. Knowing that if I got a puncture or got bored during the push and wanted to change a plug, mend a chain, clean filters or repair my wet weather clothing, I had everything I needed.
Totally agree with all of this. We've been lobbying our local council and just this week we've had 2 new rapids switched on with another 3 in the pipeline. For years we've had just 2 for the whole county
Once again a good plateful of food for thought. In the 70s we had a Triumph 2.5PI which did 17mpg whatever the conditions but was a fabulous car in its time. We followed this with 4 Land Rover which were often towing stock trailers full of pigs so we didn't bother counting fuel consumption. Now we have a Prius and fill up after doing around 350 miles. We have an e-Niro on the sometime on the future order system so we aren't particularly worried.
Just about to order my first EV for delivery in Sept. Nice explanation of range anxiety. As you so rightly say, for commuting you should never ever experience any anxiety, unless due to human error you forget to charge the car up. You have been very much instrumental in my ordering an EV. Well done and thank you.
As a 17 year old driver, many moons ago, I constantly had range anxiety use to put a gallon or two in the car when I could afford it! never filled the car and always running out, thankfully dad to the rescue. They were the day when 28 to the gallon on a ford popular was good going.
We have an mg zs ev and we don't worry about range at all! - just like our old petrol cars, you work out before you make a journey whether you have the range to complete it. If not, you schedule a fuel stop. With our MG, there's never been a "fuel stop" as it's always full every morning, so we always have the charge to make the journey (it's good for a reliable 140 miles in all weathers and seasons - 160 miles in summer). We've charged it from public chargers on a few occasions, just to learn the process, but we simply don't worry about range! Before we bought the car (our first EV) it was a big concern for us, but we really needn't have worried at all. My wife uses the car most, for commuting and shopping, and all journeys are well within the range. We took it for it's first long journey in a while today (130 miles round trip) which was 3 1/2 hours driving (with three short stops) - that's all we could have managed without a long refueling stop ourselves, let alone the car!! Again, no range anxiety as the GOM (range meter in the car) has proved completely trust-worthy, so we knew we'd be home with 30-40 miles in hand. People need to know that as long as you can trust the GOM, range anxiety is a non-issue. BTW, we use the car a lot more than our old petrol, as it's currently costing us about 1p per mile!!!
In my Model 3 getting down to 20% charge I just think: "I still have about 3/4 of what my Leaf has on full"
Same, only i had a 22kWh ZOE before. :D
Where's the fun in that??! :-D
Picking up on what Steve W said, what do you need to be able to use any charging method in the UK. Multiple cards, multiple subscriptions?? What?
There’s a video in my channel about this.
We live in the far South west have a 2015 leaf techna24kw the battery always shows around 83 miles on a 100 % charge it does 99% of our journeys with a home charge at 80% We have gone to Derby Doncaster Peterbough several times, we stop twice to three times more to charge than we stopped with the diesal but at less than a tenth of the cost who cares😊 Over the moon with it back to 80% in the time it takes to have a coffee and walk our dog 😊 no range issues here.
I don't suffer from range anxiety for the most part, the guess-o-meter is pretty accurate and I usually don't go any further then the nearest big cities. Where there are DCFCs. My real anxiety comes from worrying about getting to a DCFC and it being out of service with nothing within my remaining range.
I had range annoyance with my 30kWh leaf where if going fast you run out quicker and the Leaf really doesn't like 70mph... it wasn't anxiety though ;)
With that amount of common sense presenting you'd never get a job on the Daily Mail.
My wife although she doesn't drive gets range anxiety.. The other day we got home with 6% on my 40kW LEAF, which to me is plenty, 10 miles i would imagine. I generally start looking when i'm at the 30% mark when i'm out and about, but if i know I'm going to make it home then of course getting home at 0-1% is the aim, so you've spent less on public charging and make the most of your cheaper electricity at home
Not seen one of your videos in ages! Not sure what’s going on with my subscriptions?? Last I saw you had decided against getting a Model 3 because it was too expensive. Now I see you sitting in one😊. Nice one! Hope u are enjoying it.
I still get a little bit anxious when my car gets to about 20%. Having said that the range with 20% is about 50miles. I’ve driven 2 electric cars over the past 4 years....
Tesla should have a failure, where you could run on empty, by telling us that the battery is at 0% when it's actually at 20%. So when it would blink red empty, we'd still have range to go to the next power station.
Never driven an EV as like most people can't afford it.
I have owned several ICE vehicles (cars and bikes) in the past that had a "Reserve" fuel limit. When reached, just twist a tap and access to remaining fuel was granted.
@@davidlewis4399 My EV was £4250, lol
Yes, charging hubs are the way forward at least in the short to medium term, especially on Motorway Service Areas and major trunk roads. Hopelessly inadequate at the moment, not so much range between them, but reliability of the charge points.
Hi I was shopping at my local supermarket yesterday and I was looking at the vast range of car magazines that they have and I couldn’t see one magazine devoted to electric cars.
They will be a lot more expensive.
@david shepherd, magazines are sooooo 1980's!
I've been driving for about 15 years, with the last 21 months or so in an EV. The only time in my life I've experienced range anxiety was within a year or so of passing my test, when I was driving back from Cardiff to my home in north Wales. The tank was empty and I had planned to fill up at Builth Wells. The petrol station was closed! So I limped all the way to Newtown before I found an open petrol station and it was the most anxiety inducing trip I've ever made.
I've not yet experienced anything like that in my Zoe.
I ran my env200 24kw for 2 years and had some close calls, upgraded to 40kw in may now with 160 mile range I can work comfortably knowing I will never use that in a day. As for long trips I feel all chargers should be chip and pin, I was stuck in Harrogate last year in the Tesla had to limp to Leeds for a charge when the polar wouldn't recognise my app.
Anxiety of any sort is the fear of the unknown. In my E.V. I have ample information to help me make good decisions regarding where I can go and when and where to charge. The last time I had range anxiety was in my last ICE vehicle, late at night as I passed one closed filling station after another, and no information on where the next open station was. E.V. charge stations are generally open 24/7 and my car tells me where they are, if they are available and working and if my car will make it on the charge I have at the moment.
Which car is this?
I've owned my EV since March and it is a different mindset: you just need to be aware of the car's capabilities and plan accordingly. I now know from experience that a full charge will get me 180-ish miles around town on a good day; a bit less in the winter. I always aim to charge it back up as soon as I hit an 80-mile buffer. Conversely, this week my EV is in for warranty paintwork repair and I've had to use a petrol courtesy car. I'm so loathe to spend money on fuel that the orange light is on constantly!
I am thinking about upgrading my ZE40. Test driven the Zoe ZE50 and E 208. Think I prefer the 208. Lower range than the ZE50 so I guess range isn't an key issue for me, in fact it isn't an issue on the ZE40 either. I had a look at Zap map and 100 kw chargers springing up everywhere. One reason I fancy the 208 but more a case of fancying a change.
My wife has anxiety about operating the charger than finding one.
I completely agree with your assessment. Range anxiety certainly exists, but it is pretty much always self inflicted. I can think of 3 specific events over the past 3 years where I got real range anxiety.
I don't ever get range anxiety during my normal commute. All the EVs I've owned had plenty of range for daily commuting. My partner and I just opted for longer range EVs because we do take road trips quite often and don't want to own a separate commuter car and a road trip car. We instead have 2 cars that can easily do commuting and road trips with very little effort or concern required.
First was in my first electric car, a 2017 Kia Soul EV with the 27kwh battery. It had a best case range of about 100 miles, more like 90 in real world. I live at an apartment where we share a couple L2 chargers with the community (not only the apartment but also anyone who happens to drive by, they are put on the street near the apartment). The SOC was at about 50% since I hadn't charged the night before due to both chargers being occupied at the time I parked. So, about 45 miles of range on the GOM. I had about 35 miles of driving I needed to do, so I figured I'd have enough to do everything I needed and charge when I returned. Well, what I hadn't considered (this was only a few months after we first got the car) is that running the AC further reduces the range, as do the hills that are around my apartment. By the time I got back to the charger, it was in full turtle mode with a top speed of about 5 miles an hour. I basically coasted to the charger. At that point, there were no fast chargers anywhere around my apartment, but it was still a totally avoidable situation. Even just charging the car for an hour before I ran my errands would have totally avoided the problem.
2nd time was in my 2019 Chevy Bolt. Again, just recently got the car. It may actually have been my first long trip in it. I was driving a longer stretch on the local interstate and there is a gap of about 50 miles between fast chargers. As I was about to pass the fast charger, I had 70 miles on the GOM and 50 to get to the next charger, which was near my destination, so I skipped the fast charger and kept driving. Well, immediately after that charger, the terrain got hilly and curvy, which I knew but failed to take into account (again). I arrived at the fast charger with no range showing on the GOM and 3% SOC.
3rd time was actually when I was making a video that hasn't been released yet for my upcoming UA-cam channel Wrenching Fool. In my 2020 Hyundai Kona EV, I was doing an efficiency test while while fully loaded to test the effect that weight has on efficiency. I got to the fast charger (an Electrify America location) with 33 miles left on the GOM, 12% SOC and all of the chargers were offline except one, which was being blocked by an e-tron that was unoccupied and apparently trying to charge to 100% (probably because it was free for them). There was another fast charge option, but Plugshare listed it as very unreliable. It was about 30 miles to the next major city which has lots of DCFC, but I was a little too close on range to be comfortable. I ended up having to wait about 20 minutes at the first charger before the e-tron owner came back out to their car (shortly after it hit 100%). To be clear, I wasn't out of options, there were plenty of L2 chargers around that I could have used and charged enough to make it to the next DCFC comfortably, it just would have taken longer.
Another instance that happened just recently was not so much range anxiety but more having to overplan my route due to lack of chargers. It was in my 2020 Hyundai Kona EV, and my partner and I wanted to make a trip to the beach. Unfortunately, up until just recently, there were absolutely no fast chargers anywhere on the Oregon coast. There has been one that just recently opened in May. The Kona has enough range for us to drive directly to the closest beach to us and back to the apartment on a single charge (there is a mountain range we have to go over to get there) but it does not have enough range to drive further north or south along the beach and still make it back. We wanted to make a few stops along the way, so in order to do that, we had to go a bit out of the way to make all the stops we wanted plus reroute to the fast charger. We made it there with like 15% in the battery and actually charged more than we needed while eating lunch, but if not for the extra planning and route modification to make it work, it would have been a problem. In Oregon, there are basically no fast chargers anywhere west of the main interstate (I-5).
My Zoe is in the showroom and I’ll have it on Wednesday. For me, the anxiety is “Is the charge point going to work!”. Will I reach another (with food etc). As we travel on motorways and would plan to go to Service Stations for toilet breaks and meals, we need the Electric Highway to work!
I used to have range anxiety in the ICE car due to an unreliable fuel gauge and no way of knowing where the petrol stations are.
I now get charger anxiety instead. Without home charging EV ownership has gone from doable to challenging due to COVID. I naively didn't realise how many locations on ZapMap have been turned off or could be easily removed from the network overnight if the site owners changed their mind.
Ironically the most reliable chargers are owed by BP and Shell!
Good video, nice to say that they are the same (ICI &electric) but they are different, you just have to get your head around what it can and carnt do and how to adopt your thinking
Instavolt Hubs are in Necton, Norfolk (8 chargers) and soon near Banbury on M40 (8 chargers) and they even have a smaller hub in Sheffield (4 chargers)
Running out of range may be the driver's fault in the UK, but in Australia, there are plenty of areas with no rapid chargers. I have owned my Model 3 Performance for just over 6 months and have experienced range anxiety once. I was driving from Melbourne to Mildura, distance of 600 km (372 mi). I charged to full in Bendigo and therefore had a leg of 400 km (249 mi) to Mildura, with no other charging options, which the car predicted we could do with 9% charge on arrival. However, we had rain and strong winds which signficantly affect range. We had to slow down to 80 km/h (50 mph) and turn everything off and made it with 10 km left.
Your right about the influx of orders for EVs as I have just placed an order for a Kia E-Niro and there is a 6 month waiting list.
It's interesting how regional this issue is. I live in the USA in an area that , for this country, buys a lot of electric cars. Just about any flavor of EV, including Tesla, are in stock and available for immediate purchase. The smallish dealer I bought my Kona from had 6 in stock. The dealer I bought my Bolt from had 10 in stock. All 3 EVs I've owned (2017 Soul EV, 2019 Bolt, 2020 Kona EV) were purchased heavily discounted, well beyond what the government incentives offered.
@@ouch1011 which EV do you like the most? And do you have a home EV charger?
Being a two year e-Golf "veteran" (140 W - 160 S range) for almost all journeys I simply have range awareness. That means the evening before I think; do I have enough range for what I need tomorrow? Plug it in or not at home on that basis. For the 5 - 10 times a year I do a journey longer than the practical range then there's a small amount of planning on where to stop with alternates and contingencies. For as long as it costs me £2.25 to do those 150 miles, £0 for VEL, £120 service cost every 20,000 I am sticking to my BEV and quite happy to put up with the minor and infrequent inconveniences. Oh and thank you very much ICE drivers for paying 60% tax on your fuel prices, keeps my tax bill down!
I had a few issues in the first few weeks. I couldn't charge at home, there were no public chargers in Torquay. I couldn't charge at work, a 56 miles commute. But I soon found how to fit charging into my routine and I don't have problems these days. We even have 1 rapid in Torquay! I do check to see how well I can do on regen frequently.
I think all networks such as Instavolt should have to support AC charging too. I have a ZOE and a Kangoo and the electric motorbike arrives next week. AC will have its place for a long time to come with cars/vans and there will be many more people riding electric scooters/motorbikes that will need AC to support them on some trips.
Completely agree with a lot of comments below, it's not range that bothers me but, in order:
1) "will the charger work" anxiety, followed by -
2) "I know there's only two chargers and what if I have to wait ages or it's ice'd" anxiety. If the service station chargers were more reliable and there were more of them, I'd be much less bothered; and there'd be less need to bother with a plan B for each longer distance route; and then finally
3) "It's not a charger supplier I've used before, will I be able to get it to work" anxiety i.e please can we just have contactless swipe - plug - charge - contactless swipe to stop standard for all chargers. The apps are handy option to monitor charging if you've gone for a coffee, but shouldn't be essential.
We would need rescue batteries, that we could keep in the trunk to reload for a few miles when we're out. We could even take it, hitch-hike to the next power station, reload the rescue battery, hitch-hike back ad reload the car...
I helped out a Nissan Leaf driver at half past midnight a couple of weeks ago as she couldn’t get the charger to accept her card and Polar couldn’t contact the charger either. She was sat almost in tears on 1% about to call for a tow truck. I offered to try with my Polar Plus card and managed to get the charger to work for her. She’d already been told to move from Lewes to Selmeston by Polar and wasn’t at all happy about the situation.
I have been an EV driver for only two years but have noticed a massive change. I felt like a pioneer for the first six or eight months. People would see me at a charger and come over to ask about ev's and chat. Each long journey was taken with a similar pioneer/adventurer outlook due to the planning required and the risk you were running. This is no longer the case. I am glad I got into it soon enough to experience that time and in many ways will miss it. Tim
You should visit Dundee - 3 brilliant charging hubs with 6 rapids and 4 fast chargers at each, plus 8-bay Tesla SuC! Way more than 1% EVs here 👍
Would love to see you do a challenge around the roads from North Wales to Anglesey , then down the Mid Wales coast line via Aberystwyth to St David’s.
Along to the start of the M4 at Swansea but head back over the Brecon Beacon back to Chester
I had a model 3 from August last year till this February. And I'm glad I had the 6 month test drive. Because for me range is probably 2 years off where I need it to be. I'd shoot back home from a meeting then have to work out if i had enough range to get to get my son to football training after. You stop at the local lidl for a rapid charge and find there is a queue of people waiting. Give it 2 years and all will be good when I'll prob get a model y.
I've only had range anxiety a couple of times. A little bit of route planning with zap map helped enormously with the first couple of long journeys. As long as you plan ahead, it's a breeze. The only time I've squeaked in to a charger on 1% was due to an unplanned emergency journey, and that was only attainable by switching off the air-con and driving super efficiently!
I had range anxiety the first time I drove the car home (327Km trip, mostly 100/110Km highway, summer, first hour in peak traffic). Made it home with 15% spare range.
Never had it since! (although I have been guilty of overconfidence a few times...) :-)
A good point, well put.
@Electric Vehicle Man So now you have an EV that puts you in a similar situation; Your car runs better on Tesla Chargers (Shell V), but in an emergency, you can use the other networks? 😊
Gd video. As someone with petrol car, short /medium journeys, no problem with EV. Anything +175/200 miles, I'd be adding time to the journey when stopping to charge EV. So it depends on how many 200 mile journeys I'd do. Given Covid, probably spend more holidays in UK, so increase in this type journey a probability. Doesn't appeal.
Even in the wilds of Northumberland I have no issues - and its 20 miles plus to anywhere there.
we just need more chargers not one every 20 or 30 miles or more and more then one charger at each one so there is more likely to be one working
But you should set a 3 chargers in a row as a target to charge
I'll not deny, I'm starting to warm to the idea of an EV. But price and availability continue to be stumbling blocks. I'd jump at the chance of a unico...sorry, an E Niro, but even on Kia's own website, you can only book test drives for the hybrids, for some reason. There's definitely a demand, but supply is lagging behind. Starting to look towards the MG, but many of the journeys I do, to places without decent charging, makes it a bit more of a gamble.
I had range anxiety with my Leaf 30kwh, but since moving to my Kona 64kwh I don't experience it at all.
I remember talking to people at FCL 2018 about situation in the Baltics. There were only 4 chargers (one of them at VW dealership, therefore CCS-only, but they allow non-VW vehicles to charge) in whole country of Latvia. 43 months later there were 40.
Still no Tesla Superchargers though - one is "coming soon" since 2015.
But it is now possible to actually drive an EV from UK to the Baltics. There used to be huge gap between Warsaw and Kaunas before. Also, it was a bit difficult to get even to Warsaw, actually.
Seems like every week i see another announcement from Instavolt, so good on them. Another certain charging network, is very quiet. Hopefully IV will buy out their prime locations and increase motorway reliability ten fold.
I find that after a few weeks you realize that it's quite the opposite. You quickly get to a point where range anxiety does not exist at all. Now I should mention that use my EV almost entirely for daily commuting purposes however, that commute is nearly 100 miles each day (about a third of my total range). Even if I choose to run around down town after work I seldom go more than 150 miles in a given day and on occasion I might go 200 miles. That means I never have to stop at a public charger or even think about having to stop at a public charger. Indeed, I've owned my EV for over 3 years driving between 100 and 200 miles each day, and I have never needed to stop at a public charging facility. Since I charge at home I never have to think about the "refueling" process anymore. I pull into my garage every evening and the charging cable is right there waiting for me. I take a second or two to plug the car in before I go into the house. When I get up every morning I have a full tank waiting for me and the car is warmed and defrosted before opening my garage door (couldn't do that with my old gasoline car). Refueling (charging) at home is a MAJOR advantage. Think about it. If you have a gasoline car, and you had a gasoline pump in your driveway, how often would you ever need to go to a gasoline station? For the occasional long trip of more than 300 miles perhaps but how many times per year do most people need to do that?
100 miles is a third of your total range? And you bought it more than 3 years ago?
That car must have cost you a fortune back then.
Charging is still the big one I think. Cant charge at home and dont trust there will be a working and available public charge point.
I tend to get the opposite problem whenever I make long trips across Europe. I plan with ABRP, make an observation of earlier contingency chargers (in case I need to top up earlier) and then frequently arrive at the planned stop too full and that means reduced charging speeds. I need to drive somewhat faster and therefore become less efficient, which is harder than it sounds when you encounter miles of roadworks.
I drive a 24kw leaf in Ireland, charger situation here is a lot worse than in the UK so there are journeys i have made where there was 1 rapid charging option and if that was broken i was screwed. Still, had the car 2 years now and i've never actually run out.
Not a UK resident but have watched many of the UK based EV youtube programs over the past few years and it appears the UK is a world ahead of the US with the number of charging stations around the country. Some of the complaints and comments seem to be based on the way it use to be in the UK. Yes, here in the US and I"m sure in the UK and Europe, many of these privately owned charging networks are NOT as well maintained as the Tesla Charging Network, but the shear number of new locations makes it sound as though that problem is being overcome with quantity rather than quality.
The other problem for many in the UK, from what I read, is that many do not have a way of charging at home. The majority of folks buying EV's in the US do it knowing they can charge at home and do not really need to use those charging networks unless they take a driving vacation once a year. They charge at home and never think about range anxiety because the battery is always topped off for day to day use. The same should be true for folks in the UK that have the luxury of a place to charge at home. The remainder are at the mercy of the more costly independent charging networks...but, as EVM notes, if you are a responsible driver, you will make certain that you keep your 'tank' at a reasonable level at all times so that you do not run in the range anxiety problem.
Any chance you can do a review of the Vauxhall Corsa E as I’m seriously considering buying this car
No range anxiety here with my standard range Tesla model 3. On the rare occasion I do a long trip there are now lots of rapid chargers so it’s just fine. ( I haven’t used a rapid charger in 3 months... not even a public slow charger... my model 3 charges at home mostly off solar using my zappi on solar diverter eco ++ mode, rarely put in eco+ mode where it draws 6amps from grid... almost always eco++ mode where it ONLY uses solar. Melbourne, Australia if ure wondering. Used fast charge mode on the zappi once since I bought the car and that was only because I did a big trip one day, then another big trip the next day.... soooo.... it’s all fine.
Charger anxiety is definitely replacing range anxiety. But things are looking up. Near to me at Lancaster a 6 rapid & 12 fast charging hub has been opened only 1min from the motorway. Just need ecotricity to be given a size 24boot out of the industry so these hubs can be set up at every service area.
Range anxiety - No. Motorway service station charging anxiety - Yes. It's so unreliable
Yes, range anxiety is really just a proxy for recharging anxiety. Where can I charge ? Will it be working ? Is someone already there ? How long will I have to wait ? Phone apps solve a lot of these problems but there's still a way to go.
I arrived at a location at the weekend that had 8 free chargers, but my card worked with none of them. I called customer service and got the message "Due to COVID19 we are working with reduced staff and wait times may be longer" and was on hold for 15 minutes before someone answered (and immediately fixed the problem). Even with prior planning and all the information available there's still much more anxiety over refueling an EV than an ICE vehicle, but actual range is hardly ever a problem.
I remember my first car back in the 80's driving around the Valleys of Wales on a Sunday morning, praying that the next little village I came across had a petrol station and it was open.
It’s all down to infrastructure now, there are parts of the UK which are very good and parts that are just appalling like Mid Wales coastal routes from the Midlands (A458/A483/A44,A470) North wales expressway A55 and surrounding towns of it like Denbigh, Rhuthin.
As well as the main A41 all the way from the M54 all the way up to Birkenhead only 1 rapid in Chester city centre or only 1 at Ellesmere Port.
'Battery charging impossible' is my unique Zoe charging anxiety. Complete lottery if mine rapid charges. Depends on the weather.
Not if you get the new one with CCS.
@Peter Aspin As said above its the older generations with the chameleon type 2 charger. Which is very safe, almost too safe as if the car doesn't tick off the 50 thousand safety checks it does it won't start a charge. Mines a 2016 model. I'll be going with CCS when I'm due a car change.
winter in my fiat 500e is bit stressful in indiana not chargers eccept home, i do remember a time i got on the highway heading to a camp ground i passed my turn the fireworks sales building was painted all yellow...they painted it grey i passed it and first though was i know miles away to camp to charge , had to pay a tow fee no place in indiana charge republican state
If you do happen to run out of ejuice on the highway, what are your options? Do the breakdown services vans carry high discharge batteries to give your EV an emergency hit to get to the next charge point? Also, do EV's still have a little ejuice in reserve even if the BMS says 0%?
If you continue to slag off the Daily Mail I’ll have to come over and give you a case of money.
As usual, great video. Is there a site where you can see any proposed charging stations?
Do you wish you'd kept the LEAF after all the Tesla problems? My brother returned his after taking it back several times and they couldn't fix it. Mainly panel gaps and bits of rubber falling off, and the lights being miss aligned. Also problems with the software on the screen and the app. They just scored lower than Land Rover in the JDPower survey!
Instavolt hub in Necton, Norfolk A47 - gone live today, Sat 20th June. I'm so excited, I just can't hide dadadadaa.... (old dad dance moves)
Until now the only time I’ve run out is because I thought „I’ll make it“ then the hill came and 0,6 kWh of charge just didn’t cut it. So had to call the breakdown service to do the ride of shame on the back of a truck.
Two weeks into my eNiro life. No range anxiety - I'm more likely to think 'why do I still not need to charge?'. I'm getting about the same range as in my previous ICE car, give or take. I'm more concerned about the reliability of chargers and availability of free spaces - though that is because of what other people say, not my own experience.
Disagree range anxiety is caused mainly by people parking normal petrol or diesel cars in charging bays in car parks. Happens all the time in our town. 😥
My previous car was a diesel. According to specs it had a 50 liter tank. But when I drove it to 0 I only got 43 liters in it. So from that moment on I always drove it to 0 before even thinking of finding a fuel station.
You rebel!
driving slower and increase range, and you can reach next charger in your case
"Plan B"
if you plan your route, you allways add alternative charging pints and
stop at a charger with enough range to reach the next/alternative
charger.
But like you say, the number of chargers increase monthly
fuelstations, back in time, drivers had to stop at drug stores ... they had close in the night and not much "fuel" in store
It's great that the charging network is expanding at a rapid rate but for me currently the cost of EV's are still too expensive for the average household. Either the government grants need to be better or the manufacturers need to produce cheaper models
Hi Folks, On ICE cars fuel gauge and predictive range can be less than accurate. How accurate is power gauge and predicted range in EVs, do they change over time?
First time I tried an electric car I managed to get the battery so low that I actually reached for the door handle in order to put my foot out to give a little push to get the car up the ramp up to the dealer. I did experience a bit of range anxiety then.
Great video mate. Genuine car user giving great credible feedback and advice 👏👍
Winter time things can get interesting, husband driving back from a golf outing and what should have been an easy trip, the cold just drained the battery from 20% to 0% and limped home in turtle mode!! Scary but hey it happens apparently!!
Of course it exists. I owned a Leaf. Loved the car but range anxiety is REAL!. Never have it with a gas car. And no it's not from lack of preparing. There are too many things that affect the range that cannot be predicted. Plus range lowers as the battery ages. 🤦
All of which is easily predictable. Range gets less over the years means it can’t go as far. What’s not predictable in that?
Charger reliability is so important,followed by availability.Funny story. About a year ago I pulled in to the polar at a Solstice park Salisbury,Holiday Inn. There was an I Pace charging,no sign of the owner.I waited an hour until he arrived,he was a newbie with a new car and wasn’t happy with the range,anyway he was apologetic.I plugged in and went for a wander,Not 250 yds away was a new unit I hadn’t noticed! I felt like a bit of a fool to say the least.It hadn’t been added to Zap-Map at that time,bye the way.
Slightly off topic there are more chargers but there are more EVs how many times are the chargers empty (or just a ten minute wait .) When you arrive
@@DaveHunterDave thanks, what I've seen in most areas the are plenty of charging locations , but I always had doubts regarding the number of chargers at that location
I'm done with electric cars, I went back to gasoline because of all hassle associated with electric cars and trucks ! No more for me , I've learned my lesson and my " ELECTRIC CAR ANXIETY SYNDROME IS GONE " ... Happy days are here again !!
I have range anxiety, because i no longer need to charge the ZE50 as often as i did the 1st gen Zoe. So it takes me by surprise more often than before.
Not a problem at all because we rarely drive more than 50 miles on a day in our 2014 Nissan Leaf. We have an ICE Toyota also, but it just sits in the driveway. We mostly use that one to bring our rubbish barrels to the street on Thursdays. Local driving is almost 100% of our driving.
My first and only experience of range anxiety was on the way back to London from Bournemouth. To be fair that was all my fault, I should have put it on a destination charger, with only 60 miles of charge and the closest Superchargers being 40 miles away, you can see why I was anxious. However, it was correct, I did make it to the charger with 20 miles left on the battery meter, yes I cut it close but did I need to worry? Not really, the Tesla battery and trip estimator are quite spot on (when set to typical mode instead of rated), and realistically I should have charged it at public or destination charger when we got to Bournemouth.