How to Deal With Range Anxiety as an EV Owner

As of Q1 2022, Toyota Yaris had the fastest growing market size among the internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles in Europe. So while it may come as a surprise that this seemingly less popular model topped Europe’s EV sales chart at any point in time, the reason is not far-fetched: fuel efficiency.

Spritmonitor lists Toyota Yaris Cross as the most gasoline-efficient vehicle of 2022, capable of running 100km per 4.6 litres of gasoline. As a result of this feature and the assurance of gas stations being positioned within reasonable distances, drivers scarcely worry about being stranded during a journey.

When this is transposed to electric vehicles (EVs), the confidence is hardly ever the same. Greece, for instance, has the highest density of range-anxious EV owners—a phenomenon known as range anxiety and is prevalent among EV fleet owners across Europe.

What is Range Anxiety?

Range anxiety is the fear and anticipation of an abrupt interruption in a journey that EV owners and drivers develop when on a trip. When an EV driver embarks on a trip, they automatically worry about factors that a traditional ICEV driver would not worry about, such as vehicle range, battery efficiency, the availability of charging stations between trips, charging costs, etc.

These worries come from the long-standing trust that ICEVs have established in the automobile market and the relative novelty of the EV market. They also contribute to the slight advantage that ICEVs offer their users. And in a world where the rivalry between EVs and ICEVs waxes stronger every day, these concerns are what EV owners, as well as EV manufacturers, must endeavour to contain if they must achieve total energy sustainability.

How to Deal With Range Anxiety

If you own an EV or an EV fleet, chances are you have experienced and have sought ways to combat range anxiety even without knowing it. There are abundant reasons range anxiety should never be a thing, and in any event that it comes around, below are tips to overcome it.

Equip Yourself With Knowledge: Knowledge is power. Certain obstacles require not action but the appropriate knowledge of how things work for easy navigation. Therefore, as a fleet owner, you must arm yourself with the following essential information.
Know your EV’s Range: Knowing your EV’s range will help you know what to expect and plan your trip accordingly. EV Database provides a comprehensive list of available EVs and their corresponding ranges.
The Average EV Range Can Cover the Average Daily Driving Range in Europe: According to EV Database, the average EV range is 331km, with the lowest belonging to Smart EO Fortwo Cabrio, with a range of 95km. On the other hand, the worldwide average driving range falls inclusively between 25km and 50km. In the EU, the daily average driving range is 32.9km. The EV with the lowest range can meet the average daily demand and still have some distance left by the end of the day.

EV Charging Stations are Proliferating Faster Than You Think: One of the major roots of range anxiety is the belief that there is a shortage of charging stations. However, contrary to the popular conviction of many EV drivers, there are about 330,000 publicly accessible charging points in Europe. Furthermore, the EU targets to make one million charging points available by 2025.
Install a Charging Station at Home: With a personal charging station installed at home, you can rest assured that every time you leave your home, you leave with a fully-charged battery. This also ensures the benefits you can derive from smart charging. That is, you can seamlessly adjust your EV’s charging behaviour anytime and anyhow you want.
Get the Appropriate EV Smart Charging Software: Managing an entire EV fleet simultaneously can be tricky. And it gets worse when range-anxious drivers are driving those EVs. Technological resources have been made available in such situations to help fleet owners manage this challenge. For example, the Hive Power Flexo Smart Charge allows fleet owners and automotive manufacturers to remotely get data from their EVs, whether at rest or in transit. With this data, the FLEXO listens to user inputs and learns driver behaviour to automatically adapt charging profiles of the vehicle - it becomes ultra-easy to help EV drivers navigate their range anxiety by proffering the relevant solutions.
Plan Long Distance Trips Ahead: If you are going on a long trip that possibly exceeds your EV range, you should map out your journey to preempt range anxiety. To do this, you can utilise digital maps, such as Google Maps, to better understand your route and seek shorter alternatives. In addition, there are several charging station finder apps at your disposal to help you locate the charging stations nearest to you.

Drive More Slowly: The same way that ICEVs burn more fuel when you drive extremely fast, EVs pay with the range that could have been achieved when you drive beyond certain speed values. The most battery-efficient speed for a typical EV is 10mph or less. As a result, efficiency reduces as you tend away from this speed.
Take Advantage of Regenerative Braking: When a brake is applied to a moving vehicle, the friction in the discs and brake pads creates kinetic energy released as heat. Regenerative braking helps recover some of this energy and converts it into electricity. You can take advantage of this by applying the brake pedal or releasing the accelerator pedal.
Connect With Other Smart Infrastructure: Being a part of a community of prosumers comes with numerous advantages. One of them is vehicle-to-everything (V2X) charging. This mode of charging allows you to draw power from any smart facility or device around you, and as a fleet owner, you can optimise this privilege to manage or pre-empt range anxiety.

Conclusion

Range anxiety is a valid emotion; like all other emotions, it is not indomitable. All you need is the fitting support, and our FLEXO smart charge could never be more perfect for such a widespread driving handicap.