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I think EVs give me LESS range anxiety overall. In my gas car days, atleast once a month I was late for work or an event AND low on gas. Having to remember and

I think EVs give me LESS range anxiety overall. In my gas car days, atleast once a month I was late for work or an event AND low on gas. Having to remember and think about getting gas was constantly on my mind because I have a pretty long commute. With an electric car, I start every day, always, with a full tank. No matter how late I'm running, I know there won't be a surprise that I need gas in addition to being late.

peebeebee 3y ago
Problem is more apparent when you live in a city and have no outlet at home (no garage or driveway). But the anxiety is very minimal. People are exaggerating. Quick chargers are everywhere, and you just have to change your mindset just a little bit. (sometimes you might have to walk a few minutes from your public charge spot to your home) I will gladly take that bit annoyance when this leads to better air quality in the city.
ecmascript 3y ago
Yesterday close to where I live there was a big queue that still isn't resolved in a winter storm (over 1000 cars got stuck). With a gas car, you can physically go and get gas and fill it up manually but an EV would run out of battery, die and would need to be towed. Maybe you live in a place where winter storms are not a reality but where I live the range isn't the problem it's the weather combined with the range. EVs range go down during winter and it's already worse, the risk of getting stuck in a snowstorm is thus higher. But yes, during summer and perfect road conditions an EV would be great. That is not the reality of my life though and that is just speaking about the range issues. I live on the country side as well and I need a car that can handle roads that are not in perfect condition. EVs are also generally sedans and wouldn't even fit my family while being a lot more expensive, adding the risk of freezing to death in the car is just making it a no-go for now.
- matsemann 3y ago
  Eh, this event in Skåne is atypical. I live close by a mountain pass in Norway during winter, where people often have to camp for the night to get across, and even there it literally never happened that people would hike for gas. It's such a freak event that no one here cares about that in their choice of car.
- foobarian 3y ago
  Presumably you would have started your day with a full charge, and be unlikely to run out even if stuck for a day. We switched to an EV last month and what surprised me the most was the mindset change required - you need to treat the car more like a phone that you keep topped off, instead of the gas car you tend to run down to near empty to maximize time between refills. The big hidden requirement is to have a powerful charging circuit at home, enough to charge the car overnight (60A/240V circuit for us). Without that the EV would be too cumbersome.
  - averageRoyalty 3y ago
    I've been charging off a standard 10A/240v for years and have yet to have a problem. If you plug in at dinner and leave in the morning, that's 200km range overnight added. If you don't drive 200km that day, it rolls over.
- Symbiote 3y ago
  Every hour with the heater on but the car otherwise idle uses around 1-4km of range.
- kalleboo 3y ago
  Where I live we have typhoons. The last big one caused gasoline supplies to be disrupted (I believe the tankers could not approach to dock or something like that) and all the gas stations were out of gas for two or three days. The electrical grid didn't even blip so there was no problem for EV owners. ICE cars are really unsuited for places where the gasoline supply is not guaranteed perfect.
wmeredith 3y ago
Yeah, but if you're low and have to stop for gas, it makes you 10 minutes late. In an EV you're an hour late or have to find another ride.
- recursive 3y ago
  If you own a garage, this is not a thing that happens. One of the best advantages of EVs that many seem not to understand.
  - wakawaka28 3y ago
    Most people in the world don't have garages. Even if they have one on the house they live in, there may be more cars in the family than can fit in the garage.
    - recursive 3y ago
      There are a lot more cars parked in garages than there are EVs. EV adoption is far from saturated. By the time that is anywhere close to happening, I expect that charge station deployments will be significantly improved as well.
      - wakawaka28 3y ago
        >There are a lot more cars parked in garages than there are EVs. What exactly are you suggesting? That EVs can only supplement gas-powered vehicles? That people can use other people's garages for their own EVs? > EV adoption is far from saturated. Major car manufacturers are slowing down their EV production because the cars just aren't competitive. That's saturation. EVs are overpriced and dangerous due to fire hazards, and only realistic for rich people who have the time and money to play. >By the time that is anywhere close to happening, I expect that charge station deployments will be significantly improved as well. Speaking of charging, we would need a huge increase in electricity production to be able to support lots of EVs on the road. California recently saw this pain happen when EV drivers were asked to not charge their cars. Eventually, it may be mandated that your car be equipped with "smart" chargers that don't charge most of the time, to save the grid. The idea of mandating EV adoption is dead on arrival. Notwithstanding nefarious intentions, I guess the lawmakers are hoping for dramatic improvements in tech that almost certainly won't come.
lagadu 3y ago
It's funny how the people who suffer the most from range anxiety seem to be those who don't own EVs.
- NeuNeurosis 3y ago
  Funny how they self select out of something that they are worried about.
- mikrotikker 3y ago
  I got an 80 litre tank and 5x 20 litre containers. How can you have range anxiety with an ICE?
whywhywouldyou 3y ago
Similar story for me! Back when I had feet, there were so many days where I had anxiety over forgetting to tie my shoes. Sometimes I would start the day with my shoes untied. Other days I'd obsess over which knot to use. And additional worries over my shoe becoming untied during the day. I found out the solution to these problems wasn't about just remembering to tie my shoe tightly in the morning like an adult -- the real solution was to cut off my feet so I never needed shoes again!
- talldatethrow 3y ago
  No, it was to get shoes that regenerate themselves in the garage while I sleep.
rtkwe 3y ago
That depends massively on having home charging. If you live anywhere without it like an apartment complex, a high rise, with street parking only or a multiplex you'll have to count on charging at work.
- Symbiote 3y ago
  In many European cities there are 7 or 22kW chargers on the street, used for overnight charging. Sometimes they're built in to lamp posts, more often they're independent.
  - rtkwe 3y ago
    That does make it somewhat possible but still depends on getting those limited spots. It's easier now while the cars are still relatively rare but it'll get worse unless chargers drastically outpace adoption of plug in vehicles. Right now if you're not a home owner charging at home is an iffy proposition for most people.
wakawaka28 3y ago
With a gas car, you can take off on foot and walk to a gas station or call literally anyone to give you a bit of gas. EVs on the other hand have to be towed if they run out. Also, it is far easier to predict how far you can get on a tank of gas, and they are like a mile apart or less in any slightly populated place.
- talldatethrow 3y ago
  Point is, for day to day driving, you never have to worry about this because you start your day with full range. So EVs get you the benefit of never having to worry about getting gas when late for something, and never having to get gas in general from your daily commute. The tradeoff is, the few times you do want to go further than your range, it's a bit harder. But since those trips are usually on my leisure days, I personally don't mind that at all.
  - wakawaka28 3y ago
    [dead]
talldatethrow 3y ago
Side note, if you eventually drive 200,000 miles, getting gas every 300 miles, and each getting gas only takes 5 minutes between detour and pumping... You send 55 hours of your life getting gas for that car.
jjav 3y ago
> With an electric car, I start every day, always, with a full tank. If you can, that's nice. But that assumes being able to not only charge at home but to have fast charging infrastructure installed at home. We charge at home but the car doesn't fully charge overnight. That works all right since my partner only commutes every other day. On occasions where two consecutive commute days (or other special trips) come up, there's a lot of range anxiety involved. > I think EVs give me LESS range anxiety overall. This is difficult to understand. Sure, it's nice if you can start on full charge at home every morning. Nonetheless, some day you'll need to go farther and then a gas car is inevitably easier and faster to fill up.

peebeebee 3y ago

Problem is more apparent when you live in a city and have no outlet at home (no garage or driveway). But the anxiety is very minimal. People are exaggerating. Quick chargers are everywhere, and you just have to change your mindset just a little bit. (sometimes you might have to walk a few minutes from your public charge spot to your home) I will gladly take that bit annoyance when this leads to better air quality in the city.

ecmascript 3y ago

Yesterday close to where I live there was a big queue that still isn't resolved in a winter storm (over 1000 cars got stuck). With a gas car, you can physically go and get gas and fill it up manually but an EV would run out of battery, die and would need to be towed. Maybe you live in a place where winter storms are not a reality but where I live the range isn't the problem it's the weather combined with the range. EVs range go down during winter and it's already worse, the risk of getting stuck in a snowstorm is thus higher. But yes, during summer and perfect road conditions an EV would be great. That is not the reality of my life though and that is just speaking about the range issues. I live on the country side as well and I need a car that can handle roads that are not in perfect condition. EVs are also generally sedans and wouldn't even fit my family while being a lot more expensive, adding the risk of freezing to death in the car is just making it a no-go for now.

matsemann 3y ago
Eh, this event in Skåne is atypical. I live close by a mountain pass in Norway during winter, where people often have to camp for the night to get across, and even there it literally never happened that people would hike for gas. It's such a freak event that no one here cares about that in their choice of car.
foobarian 3y ago
Presumably you would have started your day with a full charge, and be unlikely to run out even if stuck for a day. We switched to an EV last month and what surprised me the most was the mindset change required - you need to treat the car more like a phone that you keep topped off, instead of the gas car you tend to run down to near empty to maximize time between refills. The big hidden requirement is to have a powerful charging circuit at home, enough to charge the car overnight (60A/240V circuit for us). Without that the EV would be too cumbersome.
- averageRoyalty 3y ago
  I've been charging off a standard 10A/240v for years and have yet to have a problem. If you plug in at dinner and leave in the morning, that's 200km range overnight added. If you don't drive 200km that day, it rolls over.
Symbiote 3y ago
Every hour with the heater on but the car otherwise idle uses around 1-4km of range.
kalleboo 3y ago
Where I live we have typhoons. The last big one caused gasoline supplies to be disrupted (I believe the tankers could not approach to dock or something like that) and all the gas stations were out of gas for two or three days. The electrical grid didn't even blip so there was no problem for EV owners. ICE cars are really unsuited for places where the gasoline supply is not guaranteed perfect.

wmeredith 3y ago

Yeah, but if you're low and have to stop for gas, it makes you 10 minutes late. In an EV you're an hour late or have to find another ride.

recursive 3y ago
If you own a garage, this is not a thing that happens. One of the best advantages of EVs that many seem not to understand.
- wakawaka28 3y ago
  Most people in the world don't have garages. Even if they have one on the house they live in, there may be more cars in the family than can fit in the garage.
  - recursive 3y ago
    There are a lot more cars parked in garages than there are EVs. EV adoption is far from saturated. By the time that is anywhere close to happening, I expect that charge station deployments will be significantly improved as well.
    - wakawaka28 3y ago
      >There are a lot more cars parked in garages than there are EVs. What exactly are you suggesting? That EVs can only supplement gas-powered vehicles? That people can use other people's garages for their own EVs? > EV adoption is far from saturated. Major car manufacturers are slowing down their EV production because the cars just aren't competitive. That's saturation. EVs are overpriced and dangerous due to fire hazards, and only realistic for rich people who have the time and money to play. >By the time that is anywhere close to happening, I expect that charge station deployments will be significantly improved as well. Speaking of charging, we would need a huge increase in electricity production to be able to support lots of EVs on the road. California recently saw this pain happen when EV drivers were asked to not charge their cars. Eventually, it may be mandated that your car be equipped with "smart" chargers that don't charge most of the time, to save the grid. The idea of mandating EV adoption is dead on arrival. Notwithstanding nefarious intentions, I guess the lawmakers are hoping for dramatic improvements in tech that almost certainly won't come.

lagadu 3y ago

It's funny how the people who suffer the most from range anxiety seem to be those who don't own EVs.

NeuNeurosis 3y ago
Funny how they self select out of something that they are worried about.
mikrotikker 3y ago
I got an 80 litre tank and 5x 20 litre containers. How can you have range anxiety with an ICE?

whywhywouldyou 3y ago

Similar story for me! Back when I had feet, there were so many days where I had anxiety over forgetting to tie my shoes. Sometimes I would start the day with my shoes untied. Other days I'd obsess over which knot to use. And additional worries over my shoe becoming untied during the day. I found out the solution to these problems wasn't about just remembering to tie my shoe tightly in the morning like an adult -- the real solution was to cut off my feet so I never needed shoes again!

talldatethrow 3y ago
No, it was to get shoes that regenerate themselves in the garage while I sleep.

rtkwe 3y ago

That depends massively on having home charging. If you live anywhere without it like an apartment complex, a high rise, with street parking only or a multiplex you'll have to count on charging at work.

Symbiote 3y ago
In many European cities there are 7 or 22kW chargers on the street, used for overnight charging. Sometimes they're built in to lamp posts, more often they're independent.
- rtkwe 3y ago
  That does make it somewhat possible but still depends on getting those limited spots. It's easier now while the cars are still relatively rare but it'll get worse unless chargers drastically outpace adoption of plug in vehicles. Right now if you're not a home owner charging at home is an iffy proposition for most people.

wakawaka28 3y ago

With a gas car, you can take off on foot and walk to a gas station or call literally anyone to give you a bit of gas. EVs on the other hand have to be towed if they run out. Also, it is far easier to predict how far you can get on a tank of gas, and they are like a mile apart or less in any slightly populated place.

talldatethrow 3y ago
Point is, for day to day driving, you never have to worry about this because you start your day with full range. So EVs get you the benefit of never having to worry about getting gas when late for something, and never having to get gas in general from your daily commute. The tradeoff is, the few times you do want to go further than your range, it's a bit harder. But since those trips are usually on my leisure days, I personally don't mind that at all.
- wakawaka28 3y ago
  [dead]

talldatethrow 3y ago

Side note, if you eventually drive 200,000 miles, getting gas every 300 miles, and each getting gas only takes 5 minutes between detour and pumping... You send 55 hours of your life getting gas for that car.

jjav 3y ago

> With an electric car, I start every day, always, with a full tank. If you can, that's nice. But that assumes being able to not only charge at home but to have fast charging infrastructure installed at home. We charge at home but the car doesn't fully charge overnight. That works all right since my partner only commutes every other day. On occasions where two consecutive commute days (or other special trips) come up, there's a lot of range anxiety involved. > I think EVs give me LESS range anxiety overall. This is difficult to understand. Sure, it's nice if you can start on full charge at home every morning. Nonetheless, some day you'll need to go farther and then a gas car is inevitably easier and faster to fill up.