What is the first thought that comes to your mind when considering an electric car…
And what is the reason stopping you from buying an electric car?
Chances are, the range anxiety.
We have touched on the topic several times before and it is pretty much evident and the range anxiety will not be a thing in the next two years or three years.
Anyhow as EV evangelists, it’s our responsibility to make you comfortable with electric vehicles and make the EV transition as smooth as possible.
Today we are going to share with you a few practical steps and facts to help you with range anxiety.
#0. Know Thyself
It is always a good thing to understand ourselves better especially when we are about to make a new buying decision.
Ask yourself these questions
- What are my requirements?
- How many kilometres do I drive in a day on average?
- How many times do I refuel my vehicle in a month?
- How much I am spending on maintenance and refuelling a month?
Once you know yourself it’s time to learn about the car.
#1. Educate Yourself About The Car
Often, anxiety about anything is due to the lack of expertise or knowledge about a specific topic and electric vehicles is no different. Mass adoption of electric vehicles is a new thing and it’s happening at a higher rate. It is okay to be sceptical about a new technology when you pay for it. But make sure to get your facts checked before concluding.
To educate yourself in the field of EV, you can,
- Take a test drive at your nearest EV showroom
- Ask current EV owners about the pros and cons of owning an EV.
- Read blogs about EV from authentic sites like GetElectricVehicle.com.
- Watch review videos of new models and launches.
Now you know about your requirements and what the EV offers most of your concerns and range anxiety will start to fade away.
#2. Fueling At The Convenience of Your Home
Unlike gasoline cars, you can charge your electric car at your home. After a day’s drive, you can plug your into your home charger and the car will be fully juiced up to tackle the next day.
It will be a level 2 charging station in the United States or a 1-phase or 3-phase charging station if you are in Europe (depending on the capacity of your home). Your car can be plugged in and charged whenever you aren’t driving using this handy gadget. As a result, every time you leave home in your EV, it will have a fully charged battery.
#3. It Is A Different Technology
The point here noted is, your electric car is much different from gasoline cars. In a gasoline car, there is a lot of mechanical movement and it’s only giving nearly 20% efficiency. But an electric car gives you almost all the energy you gave it. Instead of waiting for the battery to completely discharge before charging, you may recharge your electric car whenever it is parked in your driveway or near an EV charging station. So it makes sense to charge your EV any time of your convenience whether it’s a parking lot or a business complex that you always hit the road with a full charge.
#4. There Are Enough Charging Stations
Chances are that you drive across a charging station every day and you haven’t noticed it. There are 44000 charging stations across U.S and 120000 charging stations in Europe. They are pretty good numbers and they are growing at a remarkable pace. Governments all around the world have made it clear that within the decade a certain percentage(Varies with country) of the vehicle population should be electric vehicles. As a result automakers around the world has changed their strategy and now are focusing on electric vehicles and related technologies.
Also, there are lots of useful smartphone apps that will tell you exactly where the charging stations are. Plus, in the next 5-10 years, almost every parking lot will have public or commercial charging stations.
#5. The batteries Are of Higher Quality
There are millions of dollars being spent for the development of better batteries and they are making huge progress every day. The modern EV batteries go through very stringent quality and reliability tests to make sure that you won’t be stranded anywhere in your journey.
The Nissan Leaf had an 84-mile battery range in 2014 and a range of 107 miles in 2017. The Leaf was able to travel 150 miles in 2018. The list goes on and on.
A new Tesla Model 3 with a range of nearly 300 miles may be purchased for $35,000. The Tesla S set a new record for the longest single-charge trip — 670 miles!
Think about it …
Conclusion
In this article, we have mentioned a few practical steps and facts about EVs. As we mentioned in many posts this is a relatively new technology. Here we are trying to change more than a century old driving habit and it’s okay to be sceptical about it.
The future is of EVs and there is no doubt in it. The best strategy is to learn and embrace the good things about electric vehicles.
Electric vehicles will give you the freedom you have experienced never