EV range anxiety? Fear not.
2023 is the year we put common fears around EV range to rest.
Picture yourself in a brand new EV. Instead of imaging smiling on your way past the pump, you may well conjure up the image of twiddling your thumbs at a charging station when you’re supposed to be well on your way to the lake. Fears about the range of today's electric vehicles are common, but largely based on old information. With big advances in battery technology and charging infrastructure, these anxieties are more a part of EV’s past than its future.
Spiders. Heights. Those weird clowns in horror movies. People are afraid of all sorts of things, but there’s one common fear we can finally put to rest: EV range anxiety—the fear that your electric battery charge won’t be enough to get you where you’re headed. It’s so common, Ram even made this tongue in cheek Super Bowl commercial about it. It’s the reason most often cited by folks for NOT getting an EV for work or life, but if you’re one of them, we’re here to reassure you.
Distanceaphobia
This is the fear that you drive too far to have an EV. But do you?
Statistics show that the average US driver—including in the Genesee/Finger Lakes region—travels fewer than 40 miles a day. A hop from Victor to Branchport to start the weekend? Or a roundtrip errand between Brockport and Brighton? Right in the zone. And with modern battery capacity regularly exceeding 200 miles per charge, even a serious multiple of that average keeps you in a comfort zone in today’s EVs. That goes for options at the affordable end of the price range too—both the 2022 Nissan Leaf S Plus and the 2023 Chevy Bolt EUV boast more than 225 miles of capacity. Schedule that drive to Saratoga Springs with confidence, Rochester.
Rechargeaplegia
It’s the night before your summer roadtrip and you’re awake, paralyzed by a vision of being on the highway, your battery running low, and nowhere to recharge before you’re stranded. That’s a potential scare we hear from more than a few EV-curious shoppers. But let’s look at the real deal.
First, most American driving vacations aren’t more than 200 miles away, and as we mentioned, many modern EVs can easily handle that on a charge. If you’re like most EV owners, you’ll have powered up at home beforehand and started with a full battery.
But even if you need to stop and grab some juice—or simply recharge at your destination—know that the country’s charging infrastructure has taken big steps in the past years. Right now there are nearly 100,000 public charging ports across the country. That’s more than 7 times the number of McDonald’s locations in the US, and plenty of us know how easy it is to find those on our trips. The Biden administration just pledged $7.5 billion to expand that public infrastructure further, and the private side of things is growing too. From hotels to office buildings to parking garages, so many of the places we end up with our cars are adding charging ports for their customers.
Check out this handy charging station locator from the US Department of Energy and see the power that’s available on your route. Our quick search revealed more than 240 locations and over 550 EVSE ports across the Finger Lakes region.
Confidenceaphasia
In the end, some of our biggest fears are about…fears. No one wants to feel worried getting into the vehicle that’s going to move them through their everyday life. We hear you. But the right knowledge can go a long way to building confidence, and with the huge (and ongoing) leaps in technology, infrastructure, and adoption, you can be more sure about electric vehicle range than ever before. As our friends at SmartCharge Rewards put it, “...a few years from now, no one will be talking about [EV range anxiety] at all.” And once you’re behind the wheel of an EV for even a little while, your experience is bound to lessen any worries and show you all the benefits that come with going electric, from fuel savings to less maintenance to helping our local air quality.
