Range Anxiety
I consider myself quite a relaxed person. I don't freak out under pressure and I stress about very little.
Today I was almost having palpitations!
We have a fully electric car. With this comes a degree of forward planning for journeys — especially long ones. If your travel exceeds the range of the car's battery you need to have a route figured out to a charging station, and also factor in charging time.
For example, if I'm travelling a few hundred miles, I need to ensure I can get to a station, and add one hour charging time to the overall trip.
I'm a planner, so it's not a problem. In three years as an EV (electric vehicle) owner I've never ran out of power.
Percentage not miles
The car tells you how many anticipated miles you have remaining. I generally find this a work of fiction. The percentage of power left is far more measurable. 100% battery should get me roughly 220 miles according to the book. However, cold weather can impact on that significantly, as can faster driving.
I know to a decent degree of accuracy that it takes 4% for me to drive to our nearest shop (we're rural so it's several miles). The nearest big town is 12%. A drive to the city is around 60%.
Today's drama
I generally keep the car well topped up. We have a personal charging station on the side of the house, which makes it easy.
Yesterday I'd been out and about and the battery was down to 30%. I'd always charge overnight at that level, but I forgot.
Today, I needed to pop into town. Being in a particularly reckless mood I decided I'd have enough for the journey (12% x 2 = 24% and I had 30%).
Off I went into town. Did some food shopping and drove home. I'd never used the car so low on power before.
As I got nearer to home, the car started 'shouting' at me — the dashboard was displaying all kinds of orange and dinging. As it stepped down each digit below 10 it dinged again.
I was having palpitations, almost. I could feel my heart racing in my chest. There was no charging station between me and home. However, I was confident I had ample to complete my journey. But I did also have the fear - range anxiety.
On my final mile as I approached home, I was at 5%. The orange was red.
It felt like the car was fighting for its life. Doing everything possible to sustain motion. There was a noticeable lack of power on the pedal. As I trundled the final incline on my approach road, the car gave me nothing extra. It continued to glide along with all the haste of a terrified learner driver.
Obviously I made it home. My calculations were correct but I did not factor in my increased heart rate, sweating palms, or over-inflated anxiety levels.
Never again shall I play battery roulette.