Potential EV owners should not be put off by concerns over ‘range anxiety’, according to the president of breakdown company The Automobile Association (AA).
Edmund King, who drove his first EV more than 20 years ago, looked to highlight hard it is to run of charge and explained the ‘reasons to be cheerful’ generated by driving an EV.
The proportion of EVs rescued by the AA for being ‘out of charge’ has halved in the last two years from 8% of breakdowns to under 4% of breakdowns today.
However, half of that 4% have not actually run out but the AA has been called out as the EV is low on charge. In Norway, which has a much higher concentration of EVs than the UK, the percentage of out of charges is just 1%.
The top one third of breakdowns for EVs are exactly the same faults as with petrol or diesel cars – 12v battery problems and tyres. Other EV faults are quite different and cover things such as charging equipment, warning lights, battery monitoring systems or key transponders.
King said: “In twenty years of driving EVs I have only run out of charge once. My first EV was a Ford Think! Car with a 37-mile range and I once tried to drive from central London to St Albans on a dark, rainy night and didn’t quite make it. Yes, there have been occasions when I have been low on charge or come across chargers out-of-order, but it is hard to run out.
“Most EVs will flash up an orange ‘check your charging’ warning when around 20%, others will change your sat nav route to take in chargers or put the car into ‘range’ mode. If the worst comes to the worst, the AA can always help you out. Drivers shouldn’t get hung up about range anxiety because it doesn’t match reality. Of course, improvements can and are being made to the charging infrastructure but a little planning can take you a very long way.
“We are also now seeing EVs with much longer ranges. I’m currently testing a luxury Mercedes EV with a potential range of 453 miles and most new EVs can do at least 250 miles.”
He stressed the electricity remains a fraction of cost compared to petrol and diesel with EVs providing great performance without burning fossils fuels.
King welcomed the roll out of more rapid chargers and the range of “brilliant state of the art” cars on the market. He concluded: “The automobile world is changing rapidly, and we will see more change in the next 10 years than we have in the last 50. Electrification is going mainstream and potential EV owners shouldn’t be put off by myths about range. Once you have tried an EV it is hard to go back.”
