More and more people are now driving electric cars. Yet there are still many questions and concerns about driving entirely on electricity. Although icapps is experiencing an increase in people driving electric, we notice that range anxiety is still present among our people. In this blog, we would like to give you some tips, and information and share our best practices, for when you are considering buying or leasing an electric car.
What is range anxiety?
Range anxiety is a fear among electric car drivers. It means being afraid of not being able to find a charging point in time when you’re running out of battery. A justified concern you might think, but in reality, it’s not.
Most common worries when driving electric
The battery life and charging stations. An EV battery is not comparable to the batteries that we know and frequently had bad experiences with. Take your laptop or smartphone, for example, this battery will most likely decrease in capacity after a year or two.
An EV battery lasts on average between 10 and 20 years. Quite a long time right?
There are so many (fast) charging stations - some say they are literally popping up like mushrooms - that it is almost impossible for you to run out of electricity. But to reassure you, here are a few tips that may help you get rid of your range anxiety.
How to say goodbye to range anxiety
Suppose you're driving to work and you notice that your car has barely enough battery to drive back, what do you do? First of all, it’s good to know that when your electric car indicates that even when your range is at 0, you can drive at least 10 more kilometers or more. This gives you time to find and drive to a charging station nearby and recharge there.
But imagine the worst-case #rangeanxiety scenario; your battery is completely dead. Then you will need to call a towing service that takes you to the nearest charging station. It will take some time for the battery to recharge but when once it’s charged, you are ready to get back on the road! This problem also occurs with fuel or diesel cars, so it’s not a valuable reason to stop you from choosing an electric car.
These user-friendly apps help you find the nearest charging stations.
Chargemap
Driving electric without any worries; is easy with Chargemap. Find charging stations anywhere near you and join a community of EV drivers who help each other out.
ChargePoint
This app helps you find charging stations near you. You can start charging through your smartphone. When your vehicle's charge is complete or when a new station opens, you receive a notification.
On vacation
Going on vacation with your electric car seems like quite an undertaking but if you plan your route well, it’s a piece of cake. Luckily, there are apps that can help you make your holiday trip easier. Suppose you want to take a long trip or have a long journey in front of you. Then we have one tip for you: map your route ahead. Plan it well so that you know where you can recharge. There are many fast-charging stations nowadays so you never have to wait that long, and it’s the perfect moment for taking a break.
This app is incredibly convenient to use. You can filter on different aspects; for example, filter by the plug of your car. But what is even more interesting is that you can plan your route based on the charging stations. This makes it even easier to ensure that you never run out of battery.
Still not convinced? Here are some more reasons to drive electric.
Contributing to our climate is what convinces most users to buy or lease an electric car. Especially when you also invest in solar panels. How progressive is that? Driving entirely on solar energy and therefore for free?
So the conclusion of the blog: range anxiety = overrated. After reading this blog, we hope your range anxiety has decreased. There is very little reason to have range anxiety and there are many options that can assist you while driving electric.
