Range anxiety is fake - read on, I'll prove it
One of the biggest things many drivers consider when buying their first EV is range – or how far it can go on a single charge.
It’s certainly an important consideration. You don’t want to be on your daily commute or a road trip and have to constantly be recharging your car every 50 or 60 miles, right?
While being nervous, worried, or even anxious when your battery gets low is a real concern amongst EV drivers, the question we need to ask ourselves is this: Is range anxiety actually unique to EVs?
I’m not so convinced. I mean, am I the only one who has ever anxiously sputtered down the highway in a gas-guzzler, pegged on E, running on nothing more than fumes and a prayer??
Call it what you like; that felt like range anxiety to me.
So why are they picking on EVs?
Change is hard. ICE vehicles have been the dominant form of transportation for over a century. They’ve been ingrained in our culture and society, which is a tough nut to crack.
Couple the unwillingness to change with the limitations of early EVs, and it’s easy to construct a narrative surrounding EVs and range anxiety.
When Tesla kicked off the electric craze with the first all-electric car – the Tesla Roadster – way back in 2008, it only had a little over a hundred miles of range and took 30 hours to charge (I’m getting range anxiety just thinking about it).
But today, Tesla’s Model S gives you up to 400 miles of range, while Tesla Superchargers can charge up to 200 miles in just 15 minutes!
And Tesla drivers don’t only have to rely on Tesla Superchargers anymore, Lectron carries a CCS Charger Adapter for Tesla, allowing Tesla drivers to get a DC fast charge from any CCS fast charging station nationwide.
But home charging is the holy grail
If you think that EVs are just a ‘new type of car’, you’re really missing the big picture here. EVs are not just a different type of car; they are a revolution in how we consume energy.
Picture this: no more greedy gas conglomerates, no more dirty gas stations, and no more waiting in long lines to spend too much money at the pump.
While public chargers ARE becoming more widespread (due to a push by both private companies and the federal government), modeling our EV future on the gas station model – a relic of the past – should not be the primary focus here.
According to the DOT, 80% of EV drivers prefer to charge their EVs from the comfort of their homes. And why wouldn’t they? With powerful in-home charging stations like the Lectron V-BOX providing up to 46 miles of range per hour, you can fully charge your EV easily – even while you sleep!
But there ARE other options
On average, Americans only drive about 40 miles a day (DOT), so purchasing a powerful in-home charging station, or even charging at DC fast chargers, will offer more than enough juice to avoid any ‘debilitating’ range anxiety.
But you don’t just stay on the beaten path, do you? Like the classic rock supergroup The Eagles, you take it to the limit (yeah, I just did that). Surely range anxiety will begin to creep in when you’re traveling off the main roads, right?
Wrong. Portable chargers are widely available now. EV drivers can keep a convenient Level 1 charger in the trunk of their car, and charge from any available standard wall outlet. Or, if you want to kick it up a notch (and bury range anxiety forever), a powerful, portable Level 2 charger will charge your car 7.5 times faster than a Level 1 charger – from a NEMA 14-50 outlet (also known as an RV outlet).
It’s getting better all the time
ICE vehicles peaked long ago; they are on the decline. While EVs are still in their relative infancy, they have come a long way since the Tesla Roadster back in 2008. They are becoming more efficient, and less expensive, with a much longer range.
Add in progress made with EV charging by companies like Lectron, and you get a sense that range is possibly the last thing you need to worry about.
Look – I can’t promise you’ll never worry about running out of juice again. But with a powerful in-home charging station like the Lectron V-BOX, portable Level 1 and Level 2 chargers, and easier access to DC fast chargers, range anxiety is looking much more manageable with an EV than with a dirty, gas-guzzling, outdated ICE vehicle.