Do you have electric car range anxiety? Well, it's time to get over it! | Opinion
I love you, our CarsGuide readers. You are the reason I do this job to inform and entrain you, and give you the latest from the automotive world. But I was dismayed recently when I wrote a piece about the upcoming electric version of the Ford Ranger and one of the first comments on social media slammed the lack of driving range for this yet-to-be-released Ranger.
The reason I was dismayed was simple – I hadn’t mentioned range.
Best case, an all-electric Ranger will launch in around 2028 and there is no way I (or anyone outside of Ford) could know what sort of driving range an electric car will have six years from now. And yet, this dear reader was convinced that the Ranger would simply not have enough driving range, once again bringing the topic of ‘range anxiety’ to the front of my mind.
And my mind tells me, it’s time for us to get over it.
The whole concept of range anxiety was a valid argument five years ago when there were only a handful of EVs on sale with approximately 200km of range and limited public charging infrastructure.
But look how far the car industry has come in the past six years. Back in 2016, the Nissan Leaf was at the cutting edge of the electric vehicle market with its 172km of range, while BMW’s ground-breaking i3 EV managed just 200km between charging.
Fast forward to 2022 and BMW offers several electric models – from the sporty i4 M50 sedan to the spacious iX SUV. And despite the fact the iX is more than twice the size of the old i3, it manages to be both more powerful and boast more than double the range at 425km for the xDrive40 model.
Public infrastructure has increased with several companies – ChargeFox, Evie, Jolt and more – offering the ability to top-up when you’re away from your home (which presumably has a charger installed because that’s a logical addition when you buy an electric car).
The fact is, like the BMW iX, most modern EVs have a range of more than 400km and that should be enough for most people. Look at this list of some of the more popular models on sale today:
Hyundai Ioniq 5 AWD – 430kmTesla Model Y – 455kmKia Niro EV – 460km Polestar 2 Standard Range – 470kmKia EV6 GT-Line – 484kmPolestar 2 Long Range (single motor) – 540kmTesla Model Y Performance – 514km
Given you can recharge your car every day at home by simply plugging it in overnight, that means you can start each day with more than 400km of driving range. And ask yourself, when was the last time you left the house knowing you needed to drive more than 400km in a day?
While electric vehicles don’t suit everyone and never will, for the vast majority of Australians 400km will last most people – myself included – at least a week’s worth of driving. I know this because I don’t have a wallbox charger at my house, so I’m at the mercy of public charging infrastructure. But given my typical commuting schedule – shops, school, weekend sport – very rarely do I need to hunt out a charger for any recent electric car I’ve tested.
I can’t stress enough that ‘most people’ is the key phrase in that last paragraph, because I just know someone will write in the comments that they drive vast distances every week and an EV is simply incapable of meeting their needs. And that’s fine, I totally understand that perspective and completely agree with it. In the same way I would never recommend someone looking for a family car buy a Lamborghini Aventador or a Mazda MX-5 – there’s huge diversity in the new car market for a reason.
The base Leaf only offers 270km of range. (Image: Glen Sullivan)
The bottom line is, if you travel more than 400km per day on a regular basis you should be looking at a petrol or diesel-powered vehicle. But if you don’t and are avoiding an electric car simply because you’re worried about how far it will get you – don’t be.
Car makers are pushing the limits to see how far they can stretch the range to continually try and clear this mental obstacle that blocks so many of us from even considering buying an EV. Mercedes created the EQXX that has driven more than 1000km on a single charge. It’s an amazing achievement and shows there is still plenty of scope for improvement from the car industry.
But it’s also largely pointless. Very few people in the world will ever need an EV that can travel so far without needing a charge. The only way to stop ‘range anxiety’ as a concept is not through technology but with our mind. Electric cars require an attitude adjustment, that’s all.
The sooner we all realise that the better we’ll all be.
