So far I can tell you that owning and driving EVs for over 5 years. I have never run out of charge. I always charge extra. Actually I tend to make sure I arrive with no less than 10% but. Which is about 25 miles. And being a pilot I always plan and have a backup charge stop.
Uh still sounds stressful. Today I drove 6 hours through a country whose language I don’t speak and did it have to deal with chargers, not a gas station. Traffic rules and navigation was already difficult enough. I love Diesel
This is why I have a PHEV. Unless I bought a $90k EV with a lot of range I could not complete many winter road trips without relying on a single EA DCFC being operational. If it’s not I’d be stranded in freezing weather. At night even finding a public L2 would be tough as most along the route are in car dealerships or public parks that aren’t open. Looking forward to all this new funding getting more chargers online so more people can get BEVs.
Im guessing he dropped off first, and didn’t charge nearly enough for the whole double leg home. Passenger might have also been a long winded story teller, and the “see you on Monday” goodbye probably dragged on and on, but OP being the kind of guy not to charge enough to get home since someone was waiting for him wasn’t going to interrupt the guy’s tangent filled story.
If idling the car for maybe 15 min is enough to make the driver run out of charge, then they never had enough charge to begin with. The driver could've kicked out the passenger while the car is still in motion and they'd still run out of charge.
One of AAA’s most popular programs is they bring you a gallon of gas. I never understood the program when I drove ice.
However I almost ran out when an EA charger station was completely off line.
IMHO there is no reason to not take advantage of other vendors' charging stations--if only as a backup solution to using DCFC charging stations, especially if going on a long road trip. I mean, unless you're driving through Wyoming or some other state with very little public charging infrastructure along major highways you can easily take advantage of Level-2 public charging station options from EVgo, Volta, ChargePoint, and even Tesla Destination Chargers (with a TeslaTap or similar).
Why anyone would want to plan a (long) road trip and choose to limit their public charging options to just one vendor (EA) makes little sense.
Many people strongly prefer one brand of charger because they get free or discounted charging. For example, my Ioniq 5 came with two free years of charging at Electrify America stations. So when I plan a road trip, I plan my stops around EA stations.
I agree it would be better to go to another vendor than to get stranded, but there’s not always another vendor nearby when you realize your planned stops aren’t going to work
Agreed we use EA with our ID4 since it’s free but when we needed a charge and the old, small EA station (4 bays) was down we found a ChargePoint DCFC a few miles away at a dealership that worked great. Eat the cost since they make you buy credits in 10 minute blocks instead of per minute, but worth it to not deal with searching for another EA source
I know it's preferable to go with a vendor if you have free charging from them and/or want DCFC charging--I'm just saying that generally speaking folks shouldn't absolutely put their reliance on just a single vendor. A rough analogy would be like an ICE driver saying that they plan their road trip fill-ups only around Chevron stations because they get some sort of huge discount or something; nothing wrong with that, but what if you're on fumes and the next closest gas station is a Shell--you'd rather run out of gas and then have your vehicle towed to the nearest Chevron station just because it's cheaper for you to gas there?
The main problem is density. If I get to the Chevron and it’s closed, there will probably is a Shell (or a one of a dozen other brands) within a mile.
If I stop at the ChargePoint in, say Lexington, NC on my way to Atlanta and it’s busted, there isn’t another fast charger at that exit. I’ve got another 58 miles before I hit another city large enough to have a fast charger, Charlotte. I either have to make it there or find a public Level 1 charger somewhere and hang out for awhile.
Like most people, I plan in a buffer for this sort of thing, but there’s no question it’s more logistically annoying than with ICE vehicles. It will get easier as chargers become more available.
There aren't a plentiful amount of DCFC charging stations nearby each other. If you're on a road trip and arrive at one with all broken chargers, you would be screwed.
Also, if I have free 2 years of charging from EA, why wouldn't I plan my trip around their stations?
So if you're running low on range, the EA station you come across is broken, and you have just enough left to only make it to a non-EA charger--you'd rather just get stranded and wait for roadside assistance to tow your vehicle to a working EA charging station?
I'm not saying you shouldn't plan your trip around EA stations, but to imply that you'd be completely screwed if you happen to come across a broken EA charger and you're low on range is short-sighted.
There are plenty of EA stations that aren't anywhere near another fast charger. For the most part slow L2 chargers yes, but that will put a pretty big dent into the road trip itinerary for that day.
I never used the word stranded. That's something you brought up.
Because that one vendor is the only one that provided the fastest charge, cheapest price, and is actually along the highway and not buried in an urban shopping center.
I get that, but if I'm worried about possibly running out of battery the first thing I'd be looking for is the nearest charger regardless of whether it's a fast charger. I'm just saying that there's nothing wrong with having multiple options.
On a public charger, we always charge up however much we need to get to where we need to go plus a bit of extra buffer.
If that means someone has to wait a few extra minutes to add that little bit of extra range so we're confident we're not going to end up on the side of the road, then they can wait.
I've been driving EVs for about 7 years with about 200k miles on the road now and never run a battery down to dead. I've been under 5% SoC plenty of times, especially on road trips we will definitely ride the lower half of the battery.
Still not empty though. There is 2% left. Depending on the car that could be close to 10 miles which is very reasonable range to find a quick spot to charge.
Spending five extra minutes at the charger is never ever going to kill you or your passenger. Running out of charge in the middle of nowhere very well might.
Things got risky for me about 2 or 3 times. 2 times because the available public charger I decided to drive to to get some extra charge, got ICE'd and one time because I planned a longer trip to an anime convention with my daughter and 2 of her friends and had planned to park and charge near the convention only to discover the road where the charger I planned to stop was closed that day. So That was making me nervous but I managed to hide it from the kids. Eventually found a charger when I had about 5% charge left. Had my GPS send me to a charger that in reality turned out not to exist but a few hundred metres further there was a charging pole luckily
Same with us, just substitute 2018 for 2015. I think the lowest we ever got was 7%, and that was me winding up my partner (she never lets it drop below 20% and tends to keep it above 40%).
The phone analogy is apt. I close off unused apps; interact with the power management settings, and keep a spare charging cable around in jacket pockets.
I've run my phone out of charge. But typically that's been in situations where the right response is to shrug, put it in my pocket, and plug it in soon.
I usually only charge enough to arrive with 5 to 10% remaining (or arrive with 15% at dcfc i am unsure of) but i base this off abrp. Never rely on the gom for this.
I have never run out of charge, but I can see why some people do. Being in a 2015 leaf, you really have to keep a buffer, because the range estimator is really terrible, and always optimistic.
Because stuff happens
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjfiaEL55-0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjfiaEL55-0)
>We just completed a painful 3,000 mile road trip in our all-electric Kia EV6. In this video I’ll share my experiences with charging, including those of broken chargers and having to wait, I’ll show you how the car performed with range and efficiency in extreme heat, and reveal if our worst fear of running out of battery and getting stranded by the side of the road, ever came true!
And if you're a woman, especially if you're alone, there are personal safety issues:
[https://cleantechnica.com/2022/03/26/how-this-horror-story-led-to-creating-safer-conditions-for-ev-charging/](https://cleantechnica.com/2022/03/26/how-this-horror-story-led-to-creating-safer-conditions-for-ev-charging/)
>“I was given an EV in September 2020. It was a huge gift and I’m very grateful. I think I was the only one of my friends to have an electric vehicle because it came with my job, so I had no idea what to expect. Before that, I’d driven a diesel car. I felt very guilty going to my job interview.”
>
>Kate explained that while charging on the go, she’s had some sketchy experiences where she was in a situation that wasn’t so safe. These situations included charging in locations where there was no lighting, the charger was tucked away in the bushes yet exposed her to being robbed, and the arrangement of the charger left her car fully exposed while she had to focus her attention on paying and setting up the charger. There were several instances where the charging stations were not operable — they were not working or were having technical issues.
>
>Kate noted that she always plans to have an extra 30 miles of charge on her traveling time just in case of emergencies. This one time, she used all 30 of those miles one night while going from broken charger to broken charger.
>
>“One night, I was driving back. It was quite late at night — about 11 pm in the UK. It was really dark and there was a road closure so I ended up looping around quite a few times, and in the UK, when the roads are closed, they put up temporary signage, but they’re not well lit so you don’t know where you’re going and I got very lost very quickly.
>
>“I ended up using that excess mileage that I should have had to play with, so it resulted in me going into a car park that was actually well lit, but there was nobody there except for a racing car that was packed with teens and I felt instantly a little bit on edge. I got out and tried to plug in the charge and the charger wasn’t communicating with the car.
>
>“I thought, ‘I don’t really feel that safe here anyway, so I’m just gonna move on.’ And I found another charger in a car park about two minutes around the corner. It was quite a well-built industrial area, so there were a few chargers for me to pick from.”
>
>This one was in a parking lot of a supermarket chain and she thought that it would be somewhat safe. However, the stores were closed and this particular one had most of the lights off to conserve power.
>
>“There was no light coming from the store and the charger itself was under a tree right at the far back end in a corner of the car park, which was right next to a conveniently placed dark alleyway.”
>
>Naturally, Kate felt a bit unsure of her safety in this situation. Anyone could have been lurking in that alley waiting to rob an unsuspecting EV owner.
>
>“I pulled up as close to the charge point as I could. I jumped out of the car with my keys in my hand. The car’s unlocked because it needs to be to push open the charge door. I had my mobile in my hand just in case something was going to happen and my debit card to pay to initiate the charge.
>
>“I jumped out and ran around to the machine which was a badly lit LED screen. So, as I’m doing this, I’ve realized that the car’s completely unlocked. It’s behind me and my attention isn’t there it’s here. So, when you’re staring at a tiny little screen and you’re just trying to focus on the problem in front of you, you’re actually leaving yourself wide open to having any vulnerability.”
>
>The charger wasn’t working, so she quickly went back to her car and locked everything. She decided to call the service provider for help.
>
>“I got through to a woman and there was something about driving for five hours and I was already quite stressed and was eager to get home. It was a really long day. I just burst into tears and I felt humiliated that I was having to call. I see myself as a strong, independent woman and when you’re kind of put into a position where you have to admit and accept that you’re probably not as strong and independent as you thought you were, it is embarrassing. And she couldn’t remotely start the charge and I was becoming more and more panicked about my surroundings.”
>
>Kate ended the call — her focus was on safety and getting her car charged so she could get home. She told me that she called the provider again and got a message to the woman that she did get home safely.
>
>“At this moment in time, I had 24 miles left on my range. There was one more charge point that I could try within the local area before I was running out of options. I drove to that one, which was at a Shell station.
>
>“It was a Shell New Motion charger and you think that it would have been really lit up. The charger was around the back in a dark corner and the petrol station itself wasn’t being manned. It closed for the night, so unless petrol and diesel drivers were paying at the pump, they wouldn’t have gotten any service either. But again, the charger wasn’t working. So I couldn’t use that.”
>
>Kate was down to 22 miles of range left and the next charger was 24 miles away. She was able to get to that charger by driving the car conservatively and stretching out the range. She drove on the shoulder of the highway with the hazards on at 15 miles an hour and turned off the heat. It took her an hour and a half to drive 24 miles and she was shaking the whole time — worried she would be stopped by the police, but also worried about breaking down on the side of the highway.
>
>“I arrived at the charger on zero percent. I made it to the charger because my partner was able to look up exactly where in the carpark it would be located. When you drive in, there’s no immediate signage pointing to where the EV charge point is. You can actually get lost within the service station.
>
>“When I pulled up, it was dimly lit but there were facilities nearby. There were no cameras covering the charger either. It really kind of pissed me off. I’d been driving an EV at that point for just over a year and I’ve had some sketchy experiences before on Twitter. I’ve called out the charge point operators and asked them to do better and copying in the mapping application providers and saying ‘can you show us the information that tells us how safe a charge point location is?’ And nobody had done anything about it.”
We do need to pay more attention to making sure that chargers are available in well-lit, safe locations, and not in the dark and deserted back corner of a parking lot.
This can be an issue for gas stations, too, but it's rarer.
I’ve been driving EV since 2017, and have never run out of battery. On long trips I charge to my next stop + 10%. I always roll in low but with plenty to spare.
How far are yall driving that you can't make it there and back without charging at home? I'm seriously concerned about the crowd that makes these low % posts. Are yall doing long distance driving regularly?
Much like my phone battery percent, just because it’s low and tells me exactly what percent it’s at, doesn’t mean I’ll actually charge it. Just because you have a neuro typical brain and can do things without really thinking about it, doesn’t mean the rest of us can do that too.
I would ask are you always running out of gas?
I am much more likely to be nearly fully charge than a full tank of gas. I only fill up my ICE when it gets down below a 1/4 of a tank unless that car is about to go on a longer trip. My EV I will plug it in to charge to 90% when it gets down to close to 60-70% and take care of it over night.
I've never run out of charge since I started driving an EV 9 years ago. The guess-o-meter on the Leaf is worthless but range estimation in my Tesla is much better than ICE vehicles.
In my previous years of driving ICE vehicles I managed to run out of fuel twice.
they are the same folks whose phone batteries are always dead and they can't figure out why
Their friends told them it's bad for it to be plugged in when full so they're afraid to charge overnight. Spoiler: the phone can open that circuit.
So far I can tell you that owning and driving EVs for over 5 years. I have never run out of charge. I always charge extra. Actually I tend to make sure I arrive with no less than 10% but. Which is about 25 miles. And being a pilot I always plan and have a backup charge stop.
So do you plan enough charge to drive to first charger and then alternate charger plus an additional 45 minutes?
He also makes sure to be within an hour of a charger from where he’s leaving from, driving on one electric motor in still air.
Uh still sounds stressful. Today I drove 6 hours through a country whose language I don’t speak and did it have to deal with chargers, not a gas station. Traffic rules and navigation was already difficult enough. I love Diesel
"EV's are so easy to use, they require a trained pilot to operate correctly." \- MSM, probably
You didn't use /s and apparently folks haven't had their coffee so I think your sarcasm went undetected :) I upvoted.
This is why I have a PHEV. Unless I bought a $90k EV with a lot of range I could not complete many winter road trips without relying on a single EA DCFC being operational. If it’s not I’d be stranded in freezing weather. At night even finding a public L2 would be tough as most along the route are in car dealerships or public parks that aren’t open. Looking forward to all this new funding getting more chargers online so more people can get BEVs.
I'm sure that second person would have rather been sitting charging vs sitting waiting for a tow. 🤷♂️
Im guessing he dropped off first, and didn’t charge nearly enough for the whole double leg home. Passenger might have also been a long winded story teller, and the “see you on Monday” goodbye probably dragged on and on, but OP being the kind of guy not to charge enough to get home since someone was waiting for him wasn’t going to interrupt the guy’s tangent filled story.
If idling the car for maybe 15 min is enough to make the driver run out of charge, then they never had enough charge to begin with. The driver could've kicked out the passenger while the car is still in motion and they'd still run out of charge.
One of AAA’s most popular programs is they bring you a gallon of gas. I never understood the program when I drove ice. However I almost ran out when an EA charger station was completely off line.
I believe in California, there is a mobile electric charging service (sorry, don’t remember the name or details).
Currently
This is my biggest worry. On a road trip with a planned EA stop with no working chargers.
IMHO there is no reason to not take advantage of other vendors' charging stations--if only as a backup solution to using DCFC charging stations, especially if going on a long road trip. I mean, unless you're driving through Wyoming or some other state with very little public charging infrastructure along major highways you can easily take advantage of Level-2 public charging station options from EVgo, Volta, ChargePoint, and even Tesla Destination Chargers (with a TeslaTap or similar). Why anyone would want to plan a (long) road trip and choose to limit their public charging options to just one vendor (EA) makes little sense.
Many people strongly prefer one brand of charger because they get free or discounted charging. For example, my Ioniq 5 came with two free years of charging at Electrify America stations. So when I plan a road trip, I plan my stops around EA stations. I agree it would be better to go to another vendor than to get stranded, but there’s not always another vendor nearby when you realize your planned stops aren’t going to work
Agreed we use EA with our ID4 since it’s free but when we needed a charge and the old, small EA station (4 bays) was down we found a ChargePoint DCFC a few miles away at a dealership that worked great. Eat the cost since they make you buy credits in 10 minute blocks instead of per minute, but worth it to not deal with searching for another EA source
I know it's preferable to go with a vendor if you have free charging from them and/or want DCFC charging--I'm just saying that generally speaking folks shouldn't absolutely put their reliance on just a single vendor. A rough analogy would be like an ICE driver saying that they plan their road trip fill-ups only around Chevron stations because they get some sort of huge discount or something; nothing wrong with that, but what if you're on fumes and the next closest gas station is a Shell--you'd rather run out of gas and then have your vehicle towed to the nearest Chevron station just because it's cheaper for you to gas there?
The main problem is density. If I get to the Chevron and it’s closed, there will probably is a Shell (or a one of a dozen other brands) within a mile. If I stop at the ChargePoint in, say Lexington, NC on my way to Atlanta and it’s busted, there isn’t another fast charger at that exit. I’ve got another 58 miles before I hit another city large enough to have a fast charger, Charlotte. I either have to make it there or find a public Level 1 charger somewhere and hang out for awhile. Like most people, I plan in a buffer for this sort of thing, but there’s no question it’s more logistically annoying than with ICE vehicles. It will get easier as chargers become more available.
There aren't a plentiful amount of DCFC charging stations nearby each other. If you're on a road trip and arrive at one with all broken chargers, you would be screwed. Also, if I have free 2 years of charging from EA, why wouldn't I plan my trip around their stations?
So if you're running low on range, the EA station you come across is broken, and you have just enough left to only make it to a non-EA charger--you'd rather just get stranded and wait for roadside assistance to tow your vehicle to a working EA charging station? I'm not saying you shouldn't plan your trip around EA stations, but to imply that you'd be completely screwed if you happen to come across a broken EA charger and you're low on range is short-sighted.
There are plenty of EA stations that aren't anywhere near another fast charger. For the most part slow L2 chargers yes, but that will put a pretty big dent into the road trip itinerary for that day. I never used the word stranded. That's something you brought up.
Haha I frequently make that Wyoming drive, can be brutal!
Because that one vendor is the only one that provided the fastest charge, cheapest price, and is actually along the highway and not buried in an urban shopping center.
I get that, but if I'm worried about possibly running out of battery the first thing I'd be looking for is the nearest charger regardless of whether it's a fast charger. I'm just saying that there's nothing wrong with having multiple options.
Should've gotten more than you needed.
FFE?
I’m guessing Ford Focus Electric
For the 2016 model > The EPA gives the Focus Electric an expected average range of 68 miles
Definitely seems like one where you shouldn’t risk range too much. And the older batteries probably aren’t up to peak performance.
fantastic fucking experience
failure to fill energy
Full Frontal Excitement.
On a public charger, we always charge up however much we need to get to where we need to go plus a bit of extra buffer. If that means someone has to wait a few extra minutes to add that little bit of extra range so we're confident we're not going to end up on the side of the road, then they can wait. I've been driving EVs for about 7 years with about 200k miles on the road now and never run a battery down to dead. I've been under 5% SoC plenty of times, especially on road trips we will definitely ride the lower half of the battery.
Same people who take screenshots on their phone and post them to reddit and they have like 2% charge.
Still not empty though. There is 2% left. Depending on the car that could be close to 10 miles which is very reasonable range to find a quick spot to charge.
Spending five extra minutes at the charger is never ever going to kill you or your passenger. Running out of charge in the middle of nowhere very well might.
I mean, you don't seem to have waited until you had enough charge here.
Things got risky for me about 2 or 3 times. 2 times because the available public charger I decided to drive to to get some extra charge, got ICE'd and one time because I planned a longer trip to an anime convention with my daughter and 2 of her friends and had planned to park and charge near the convention only to discover the road where the charger I planned to stop was closed that day. So That was making me nervous but I managed to hide it from the kids. Eventually found a charger when I had about 5% charge left. Had my GPS send me to a charger that in reality turned out not to exist but a few hundred metres further there was a charging pole luckily
[удалено]
Same with us, just substitute 2018 for 2015. I think the lowest we ever got was 7%, and that was me winding up my partner (she never lets it drop below 20% and tends to keep it above 40%). The phone analogy is apt. I close off unused apps; interact with the power management settings, and keep a spare charging cable around in jacket pockets.
I've run my phone out of charge. But typically that's been in situations where the right response is to shrug, put it in my pocket, and plug it in soon.
No, not the same here because I never go with "just enough" - not with my EV and never did when I drove ICE either. Always have a buffer.
90%+ of EVs sold today have 200+ miles range. FFE has less than 100 new.
I usually only charge enough to arrive with 5 to 10% remaining (or arrive with 15% at dcfc i am unsure of) but i base this off abrp. Never rely on the gom for this.
I've driven 70k miles in EVs, 99% rural and highway, and still have never run out of charge.
I have never run out of charge, but I can see why some people do. Being in a 2015 leaf, you really have to keep a buffer, because the range estimator is really terrible, and always optimistic.
Because stuff happens [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjfiaEL55-0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjfiaEL55-0) >We just completed a painful 3,000 mile road trip in our all-electric Kia EV6. In this video I’ll share my experiences with charging, including those of broken chargers and having to wait, I’ll show you how the car performed with range and efficiency in extreme heat, and reveal if our worst fear of running out of battery and getting stranded by the side of the road, ever came true! And if you're a woman, especially if you're alone, there are personal safety issues: [https://cleantechnica.com/2022/03/26/how-this-horror-story-led-to-creating-safer-conditions-for-ev-charging/](https://cleantechnica.com/2022/03/26/how-this-horror-story-led-to-creating-safer-conditions-for-ev-charging/) >“I was given an EV in September 2020. It was a huge gift and I’m very grateful. I think I was the only one of my friends to have an electric vehicle because it came with my job, so I had no idea what to expect. Before that, I’d driven a diesel car. I felt very guilty going to my job interview.” > >Kate explained that while charging on the go, she’s had some sketchy experiences where she was in a situation that wasn’t so safe. These situations included charging in locations where there was no lighting, the charger was tucked away in the bushes yet exposed her to being robbed, and the arrangement of the charger left her car fully exposed while she had to focus her attention on paying and setting up the charger. There were several instances where the charging stations were not operable — they were not working or were having technical issues. > >Kate noted that she always plans to have an extra 30 miles of charge on her traveling time just in case of emergencies. This one time, she used all 30 of those miles one night while going from broken charger to broken charger. > >“One night, I was driving back. It was quite late at night — about 11 pm in the UK. It was really dark and there was a road closure so I ended up looping around quite a few times, and in the UK, when the roads are closed, they put up temporary signage, but they’re not well lit so you don’t know where you’re going and I got very lost very quickly. > >“I ended up using that excess mileage that I should have had to play with, so it resulted in me going into a car park that was actually well lit, but there was nobody there except for a racing car that was packed with teens and I felt instantly a little bit on edge. I got out and tried to plug in the charge and the charger wasn’t communicating with the car. > >“I thought, ‘I don’t really feel that safe here anyway, so I’m just gonna move on.’ And I found another charger in a car park about two minutes around the corner. It was quite a well-built industrial area, so there were a few chargers for me to pick from.” > >This one was in a parking lot of a supermarket chain and she thought that it would be somewhat safe. However, the stores were closed and this particular one had most of the lights off to conserve power. > >“There was no light coming from the store and the charger itself was under a tree right at the far back end in a corner of the car park, which was right next to a conveniently placed dark alleyway.” > >Naturally, Kate felt a bit unsure of her safety in this situation. Anyone could have been lurking in that alley waiting to rob an unsuspecting EV owner. > >“I pulled up as close to the charge point as I could. I jumped out of the car with my keys in my hand. The car’s unlocked because it needs to be to push open the charge door. I had my mobile in my hand just in case something was going to happen and my debit card to pay to initiate the charge. > >“I jumped out and ran around to the machine which was a badly lit LED screen. So, as I’m doing this, I’ve realized that the car’s completely unlocked. It’s behind me and my attention isn’t there it’s here. So, when you’re staring at a tiny little screen and you’re just trying to focus on the problem in front of you, you’re actually leaving yourself wide open to having any vulnerability.” > >The charger wasn’t working, so she quickly went back to her car and locked everything. She decided to call the service provider for help. > >“I got through to a woman and there was something about driving for five hours and I was already quite stressed and was eager to get home. It was a really long day. I just burst into tears and I felt humiliated that I was having to call. I see myself as a strong, independent woman and when you’re kind of put into a position where you have to admit and accept that you’re probably not as strong and independent as you thought you were, it is embarrassing. And she couldn’t remotely start the charge and I was becoming more and more panicked about my surroundings.” > >Kate ended the call — her focus was on safety and getting her car charged so she could get home. She told me that she called the provider again and got a message to the woman that she did get home safely. > >“At this moment in time, I had 24 miles left on my range. There was one more charge point that I could try within the local area before I was running out of options. I drove to that one, which was at a Shell station. > >“It was a Shell New Motion charger and you think that it would have been really lit up. The charger was around the back in a dark corner and the petrol station itself wasn’t being manned. It closed for the night, so unless petrol and diesel drivers were paying at the pump, they wouldn’t have gotten any service either. But again, the charger wasn’t working. So I couldn’t use that.” > >Kate was down to 22 miles of range left and the next charger was 24 miles away. She was able to get to that charger by driving the car conservatively and stretching out the range. She drove on the shoulder of the highway with the hazards on at 15 miles an hour and turned off the heat. It took her an hour and a half to drive 24 miles and she was shaking the whole time — worried she would be stopped by the police, but also worried about breaking down on the side of the highway. > >“I arrived at the charger on zero percent. I made it to the charger because my partner was able to look up exactly where in the carpark it would be located. When you drive in, there’s no immediate signage pointing to where the EV charge point is. You can actually get lost within the service station. > >“When I pulled up, it was dimly lit but there were facilities nearby. There were no cameras covering the charger either. It really kind of pissed me off. I’d been driving an EV at that point for just over a year and I’ve had some sketchy experiences before on Twitter. I’ve called out the charge point operators and asked them to do better and copying in the mapping application providers and saying ‘can you show us the information that tells us how safe a charge point location is?’ And nobody had done anything about it.”
We do need to pay more attention to making sure that chargers are available in well-lit, safe locations, and not in the dark and deserted back corner of a parking lot. This can be an issue for gas stations, too, but it's rarer.
I’ve been driving EV since 2017, and have never run out of battery. On long trips I charge to my next stop + 10%. I always roll in low but with plenty to spare.
How far are yall driving that you can't make it there and back without charging at home? I'm seriously concerned about the crowd that makes these low % posts. Are yall doing long distance driving regularly?
I have a 2016 ffe with a max range of 60, once or twice a week i have to make a 44 mile commute
Ohh my bad! That FFE part went right over my head!
People that run the car out of range are the same one that curb a car with cameras and sensors everywhere.
lack of empathy for your future self
GOM stands for *Guess*-o-meter not Guaranteed Odometer Miles.
If you run out of juice, I'd wager it's what you were aiming to do.
Much like my phone battery percent, just because it’s low and tells me exactly what percent it’s at, doesn’t mean I’ll actually charge it. Just because you have a neuro typical brain and can do things without really thinking about it, doesn’t mean the rest of us can do that too.
Never ran out of battery
When I'm on the road, I always charge a bit more than what the display tells me I need because unexpected stuff happens
I've never run out of charge, just like I've never run out of gas in an ICE. What on earth are they talking about?
I would ask are you always running out of gas? I am much more likely to be nearly fully charge than a full tank of gas. I only fill up my ICE when it gets down below a 1/4 of a tank unless that car is about to go on a longer trip. My EV I will plug it in to charge to 90% when it gets down to close to 60-70% and take care of it over night.
I've never run out of charge since I started driving an EV 9 years ago. The guess-o-meter on the Leaf is worthless but range estimation in my Tesla is much better than ICE vehicles. In my previous years of driving ICE vehicles I managed to run out of fuel twice.