Range anxiety is overrated

[Giles_K]

Originally Posted by Vman455

And another problem, that I don't think has been touched on in this thread yet:

Unless You Own A House, Living With An Electric Car Still Sucks In 2016

For reference, 52% of Los Angeles residents are renters.

This is a particular concern for me as well; I wouldn't mind picking up a Prius Prime now that they're out, and 25 miles of range would be more than adequate for my daily driving while still having a gas engine for road trips. But, since I live in a multi-unit building and don't have a garage or even an assigned parking spot, I have nowhere to plug it in.

This. Of course, other factors include traffic. Sure, 100 miles might be enough, but many overestimate how much 'mileage' is wasted in traffic, or they worry about the drain on the battery during the day (of course, there's a big difference between the battery in my EV and the battery in my phone).

Hypermiling can help, if you want to get fancy with rolling resistance etc, but I find range anxiety is just that... anxiety. Give yourself plenty of wiggle room and, as others have said, ensure you know your charging points and its hard to go wrong.

[dremd]

Originally Posted by Giles_K

This. Of course, other factors include traffic. Sure, 100 miles might be enough, but many overestimate how much 'mileage' is wasted in traffic, or they worry about the drain on the battery during the day (of course, there's a big difference between the battery in my EV and the battery in my phone).

When I'm short on range in the Leaf I HEAD TOWARD traffic. My MPGe's are typically best in medium to heavy traffic. The low speed is really what keeps the numbers up and the regen keeps the stops from being to brutal.

[LittleBlackDuck]

Originally Posted by NeilBlanchard

Or, you can call a tow truck. I am sure that eventually, tow companies will have portable chargers.

And I can see people getting nice large invoices from the roadside support organizations for doing this repeatedly. Where I come from, tow trucks are for collisions and breakdowns not stupidity.

Simon

[oil pan 4]

Originally Posted by LittleBlackDuck

And I can see people getting nice large invoices from the roadside support organizations for doing this repeatedly. Where I come from, tow trucks are for collisions and breakdowns not stupidity.

Simon

That's the idea behind oil pan 4's tow and charge service.
I have a 3/4 ton suburban, an 18 foot trailer and a 17.5kw generator.

[freebeard]

Do you have commercial signage hand-painted on the doors? Is it rubbed out to give it patina?

[oil pan 4]

I'm thinking more like uber for electric car people.

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by LittleBlackDuck

Where I come from, tow trucks are for collisions and breakdowns not stupidity.

Oh, they'll gladly do stupidity too, and charge you an arm & leg for it :-) (Insert story of neighbor's kid, a tow truck driver himself, who managed to wreck his car by squirting himself with Mace.)

But I doubt that a roadside recharge would make economic sense. Tow trucks are pretty expensive pieces of equipment, even before you add a generator and charging ports to it. Having one sitting by the roadside for hours charging an EV is going to cost. More likely they'd just tow you somewhere.

[NeilBlanchard]

Originally Posted by oil pan 4

That's the idea behind oil pan 4's tow and charge service.
I have a 3/4 ton suburban, an 18 foot trailer and a 17.5kw generator.

Actually, you can tow an EV with its wheels on the ground - and it gets charged using regen.

[LittleBlackDuck]

Originally Posted by NeilBlanchard

Actually, you can tow an EV with its wheels on the ground - and it gets charged using regen.

Only if you leave it turned on and in "drive". Not smart!

Simon

[NeilBlanchard]

Why is it not smart?