What is range anxiety? Learn how to eliminate the issue
Last updated December 17, 2021
Our survey of over 3,000 motorists found that more than 7 in 10 thought that range is a concern when considering buying an electric car. The fear of being stuck mid-trip isn’t just a concern for electric car drivers and there is an equal opportunity that the same could happen in a petrol or diesel vehicle if you allow it to run low on fuel.
Whilst it takes more time to charge an electric car than it does to fill up a car at a fuel station, you are unlikely to encounter range issues if you regularly drive short to medium distances and factor in charging as part of your longer journeys. In addition, the battery capacity and range of electric cars are continuing to grow as the technology develops, with some cars able to travel up to 405 miles on a single charge. You can find out the electric cars with the longest range here.
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How to eliminate range anxiety
Reasons for the ban on petrol and diesel cars
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Install a charger at home
There are two options to charge your car at home: using a three-pin socket charger that you plug into the mains or having an EV charge point installed. Whilst using a three-pin socket to charge your car doesn’t require the installation of a dedicated charge point, it is much slower and you may not always be able to charge the car to full battery at home. In addition, unless you have a waterproof outdoor plug socket near to where you park your car, you will have cables going from an interior socket.
If you are installing an electric charging point at home, you could utilise the Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme (EVHS) which allows you to receive a grant of up to 75% of the cost to install the unit. Some manufacturers may also offer a home charging point as part of the package when purchasing a new car. If you’re looking to reduce the cost of charging an electric car at home, installing a home charging point and switching to a dedicated EV charging tariff is the most effective way to do so.
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Upgrade your EV
Manufacturers are consistently improving the technology in their EVs, with improved infotainment, connected features and most importantly, batteries. As the batteries are becoming more mass-produced, they’re becoming cheaper for the manufacturers, which reduces the cost of the end consumer. As a result, by upgrading your electric car, you may benefit from an improved range, which will reduce the anxiety of running out of charge and mean you have to charge your car less frequently. You can see the average range of available BEV (battery electric vehicles) below:
Year Average range (miles) 2012 67.4 2013 135.9 2014 130.7 2015 148.7 2016 194 2017 206 2018 208.1 2019 236.8 2020 259.2 -
Utilise the growing network of rapid chargers
The number of public charging points has been growing along with the number of new car registrations each year as the government push for the ban of new petrol and diesel car sales by 2030. As of the 6th December 2021, there are 27,945 publicly available chargers, of which 5,133 were either rapid (25-99kW) or ultra-rapid (100kW+), which is 220% higher than at the beginning of 2016.
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Download a route planning app
With the range of electric cars and the network of charging points growing at a faster rate than ever before, you can download a route planning app such as Zap-Map which will calculate your route based on your expected range and the availability of chargers on your route.
Are you considering making the switch to an EV?
If you are considering making the switch from a combustion vehicle to an electric vehicle, you could sell your car to us in less than an hour. Simply get a free car valuation in less than 30 seconds and if you’re happy with the price, you could sell your car in under an hour at one of our 450+ branches across the UK.