There are potential EV drivers that suffer from something called range anxiety and will subsequently be put off from even switching to an electric car. If you were to drive your petrol or diesel car until it ran dry, you would have the same problem. So why is it any different with electric cars? The truth is, there’s very little to worry about and in this blog, we’ll give 5 reasons why.
Range anxiety is when someone is fearful of running out of power while driving their electric vehicle, and not being able to find a charge point in time. Range anxiety is one of the main reasons that potential EV drivers are put off from making the switch. The location also remains a huge factor, with almost half of EV charge points located in London and the Southeast of the U.K. According to figures from ZapMap, 33.4% of EV charge points are in London and 12.6% can be found in the Southeast.
Here are 5 reasons not to worry:
Charging an electric car at your home overnight is far more convenient than making a detour to a petrol station, and much less hassle. It’s also far cheaper to fully charge your EV compared to filling a full tank of fuel. Sure, not everyone has an electric charger at their home, but a fully charged car can travel between 150-300 miles depending on each model. So, charging once a week should be enough to keep you going.
Let’s face it, nobody wants their life interrupted by waiting around for hours while their car is on charge. Electric Vehicles are becoming more and more popular, week by week, month by month. For that reason, the network of EV chargers is rapidly growing with charge points now available at many places of work, at hotels, restaurants, car parks, petrol stations, and loads of other places too. Apps like ZapMap make it easy to locate a charge point wherever you are, and some charge points are private homeowners willing to allow people to charge their cars.
Governments around the world are creating legislation to support the EV infrastructure. With the UK government banning the sale of petrol and Diesel cars by 2030, the demand for electric vehicles and EV charge points will increase exponentially. According to the RAC, there are over 456,000 electric vehicles in the UK already. As the demand for EV cars grows so will the number of EV charging stations across the country and worldwide.
A huge reason behind range anxiety is the expectation that the battery will die after a few years. The truth is that modern electric vehicles have a battery that has a life span of between 10 and 20 years. However, this doesn’t mean that they will keep maximum performance for the duration of that time. EV batteries will slowly lose some of their charging capacity, but this is on average 2.3% a year. Drivers can expect upwards of 100,00 miles of use so it’s not too dissimilar to a regular car battery. The degradation of the car battery will also not affect the performance of the car, but it would lessen the range by approximately 20% compared with a new EV.
When the Nissan LEAF launched in the market back in 2010, it had a maximum range of about 109 miles. But now the technology has improved, and new Electric Vehicles have significantly extended their range, with some models reaching up to 300 miles. The main cause of range anxiety is that most people think the range of an EV is insufficient to get to their destination. But, with the improvement of technology and the ever-growing network of chargers, there’s less reason to worry about range anxiety.
At Plug&Drive we stock top-of-the-range electric chargers manufactured by ABB and have a team of OZEV-approved electricians on hand to install at your home or business. Give us a call on 01621 868 138 or email info@pluganddrive.co.uk to find out how we can help you.
Image credit:
Car ride photo created by freepik – www.freepik.com
Hybrid car photo created by frimufilms – www.freepik.com
