Range Anxiety and Range Extenders

Drivers of conventionally powered cars might suffer anxiety about many things, but the range of their vehicles isn't one of them. Conventional vehicles don't provoke "range anxiety" for three simple reasons. First, they typically offer more than 300 miles of driving on a tankful of fuel. That's enough driving for most people on most days. But a more important reason is that it is easy to find a gas station. There are more than 150,000 of them in the United States, so finding a place to refuel is not an issue. Finally, once you find a gas station, it takes little time to fill up the tank and be on your way. You don't have to be a member of a NASCAR pit crew to fill up your car, truck, or van in five minutes or less.

Drivers of electric vehicles (EVs) face different circumstances. In addition to the significant advantages of EVs—emission-free driving, smooth and quiet acceleration, and low cost to recharge—they offer challenges that result in range anxiety.

You can define range anxiety as the fear you will run out of electricity in your vehicle's battery pack before you reach a place to recharge it. This fear exists because EVs typically offer fewer miles of driving before you must recharge them than conventional cars before you must refuel them. Combine that with the reality that there are far fewer public charging stations in the United States than gas stations. New public charging stations pop up almost daily, but the current count—fewer than 60,000—is well below the number of gas stations.

Adding to the potential anxiety is that it takes much longer to recharge an EV battery pack than it does to fill up a gasoline tank. The vehicles with the fastest charging times these days can go from a 10-percent charge to 80 percent in 15 minutes or so using a state-of-the-art DC fast charger. Most EVs currently on the road take significantly longer—perhaps twice or even three times as long.

Charging at a Level 2 charger, still the predominant type of public charger available, takes significantly longer than even the slowest DC fast charger. Getting a full charge at a Level 2 charger could take hours, which is why most EV owners perform Level 2 home charging overnight. Since Americans don't enjoy waiting, anxiety about the process can come on like a bad cold.

Strategies to Defeat Range Anxiety

While the realities described might seem onerous, you can defeat range anxiety simply by understanding how to maximize your all-electric driving while minimizing downtime to recharge. The first step is to determine how many miles you drive daily. The second is to determine where you will do most of your charging. With these key facts, you can determine the proper range for your new EV.

If, for example, you drive fewer than 40 miles each day and will have the ability to charge at home each night, even a vehicle with as little as 100-150 miles of range should enable you to drive with virtually no range anxiety. If, on the other hand, you drive 75 miles a day and cannot charge at home, you should look to an EV with much more range on a charge. Or, you should consider an EV with a range extender. (More on that later.)

No matter what EV you choose, you can fight off range anxiety by adopting sound driving and charging strategies. The first is as simple as ABC, which stands for Always Be Charging. This means that every chance you get to charge your vehicle's batteries, take it. Be religious about charging at home overnight. If you go to a restaurant, shopping center, or movie theater and can charge there, do it. Keeping your battery as well-charged as possible will be invaluable on those occasional instances when you must drive many more miles than you expected.

Most EVs have associated apps that can help you charge them most efficiently. Use it in cooperation with your local utility and potential commercial public charging partners.

At the same time, you can adopt driving behaviors that will maximize your range on a charge. First, though the high torque of an EV makes it tempting, avoid full-throttle acceleration. Keep those electrons in the bank. And use as much regenerative braking as you can. Many EVs offer the opportunity to choose various levels of re-gen. The most aggressive will give you a driving experience very different from a "regular" car, but it will help you maintain range. Using one-pedal mode can be convenient and help you maintain charge.

Remember that heat and air conditioning also use electricity that otherwise would go to range. To maximize your range on a charge, use both sparingly.

Range Extender

If all this sounds like more effort than you want to expend—or if you are a road-trip junkie or weekend warrior who drives a lot—you might consider an electric vehicle with a range extender. This means that the vehicle in question functions as a pure EV most of the time. At the same time, it also offers a gasoline engine for when the stock of electrons in the battery has run out.

In the early days of electrified vehicles, some used electric power and had a gasoline-powered generator whose only function was replenishing the charge in a spent battery. These days, those vehicles, which were never popular, have vanished, replaced by plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs).

A typical PHEV offers 30-50 miles of all-electric range on its battery pack and has a gasoline engine that can both replenish the battery and power the vehicle itself. So, if you have a short commute and recharge your vehicle's battery overnight or at work, you can do all your daily driving without ever using the gasoline engine. But if you take a road trip, go to the lake for the weekend, or, for some reason, forget to recharge your battery, you can use the gasoline engine to drive the vehicle like a conventional car if your battery comes up "empty." For many people wary that a battery-electric vehicle will be too much for them, a plug-in hybrid is an excellent first step toward pure EV ownership.

Jack R. Nerad has reviewed cars, trucks, vans, and sport utilities for over three decades. He also managed the editorial efforts of Motor Trend magazine, JD Power, and Kelley Blue Book. Jack is currently the host of the SportsMap Radio Network program America on the Road, available on Apple Podcasts, iHeart Radio, Spotify, Stitcher, and other outlets.

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