I cast my mind back to the days before I got my first plug-in vehicle, a 2012 Chevy Volt. This happened as I was speaking with a potential Volt buyer about my 2017 Volt’s gasoline usage. Regular readers of this blog may remember that I came very close to going a full year without having to buy gasoline. EV newbies are always concerned about how many public chargers are “out there” and “range anxiety.”
“Range anxiety” is the term used to describe how an electric vehicle owner feels, as their battery gets closer and closer to running out of electricity, as they drive. The reason for the anxiety, is that there currently (pun intended) is no way for roadside assistance to bring a gallon of electrons.
What occurred to me, during my discussion, was that I used to have range anxiety, before I had a plug-in vehicle. I hated having to go to the gas station, so I would put it off as long as I could. I often would be on my way to work, thinking, “Can I make it to work without getting gas?” “If I make it to work, can I make it to a gas station, when I leave work?” “Which gas station has the lowest price?”
I was experiencing range anxiety, IN A GASOLINE-POWERED CAR!!!
How about you? Do you put off buying gas as long as possible, thinking if you can just squeeze another 1/2 commute before refueling, you’ll decrease the number of trips, to the gas station, over the year?
If you’ve let “range anxiety” keep you from moving to plug-in vehicles, realize you already have range anxiety. Think about the convenience, when you refuel at home! Think how you don’t have to stand next to a smelly gas pump, surrounded by the exhaust of the vehicles around you, in whatever weather is happening, when you need gas.
You just pull into your own, private garage and plug your car in, just like you do with your smartphone, AND THEN JUST WALK AWAY. It’ll take care of itself, while you concentrate on enjoying your life.
Now that I’ve been driving plug-in vehicles for more than five years, I cannot imagine why people continue to go stand at gas stations. Every. Single. Week.
Maybe it’s so they can give money to the panhandlers…
I recently saw a lady getting out of a LEAF in a post office parking lot (turned out to be an older model). I asked her how she liked it, and, to my surprise, she said she hated it. She had driven to and around Dallas and did not have the juice to get back to Fort Worth (she ended up doing a 20 minute recharge somewhere). She also complained that the advertised range was not accurate at highway speeds with the radio and A/C on.
It may not be a good idea to buy an EV with less than a 200 mile range if one plans to drive out of town.
I still do not understand why Nissan doesn’t use a liquid for battery thermal management. Their new Leaf has a hashtag about the fast charging slowing down, with each charge, when on a long trip: #rapidgate.
To keep the cost of the car down?