Range anxiety from a first time EV buyer.

[Dantes]

Hey everyone, fairly new in here and as much as I LOVE my CT, I am definitely feeling the talked about range anxiety. First car was my grandfather's Lincoln Continental in 08, that got totaled sitting at a red light when I got rear ended by a Ford Expedition going 40.... Then my dad helped me buy my first car in 09, a brand new Dodge Charger which I owned for 11 years until yet again.. in 2020 sitting at a complete stop waiting to make a left turn when a Nissan Altima rear ended me going 40 and the insurance company totaled my Charger because of a crimp in the unibody frame.. that thing had a lifetime power train warranty and I miss it dearly.. then took ownership of my sister's Rav4 which I've been driving since until I got my CT in May.

Sorry for the long story but the point being that all these vehicles had a range of about 500+ miles while my dual motor gets 340 miles at best if I'm driving conservatively. Fortunately I charge free at work so there goes a monthly expense completely but when it comes to long distance trips or weekends camping, I do worry about that range. Especially considering how much phantom drain is experienced leaving it parked. On a Friday, had it at 160 miles of charge and by Monday it was 80 miles while not driving all weekend. Yes I had sentry mode on as I park it outside until I figure out a garage set up, cabin overheat protection was turned off but that still seems like a lot of drain.

I'm a HUGE advocate for EV's since I love the zero emissions, as well as my belief in the advancement of technology over time. I strongly believe it's a better investment for an EV that can be significantly improved when battery technology advances, for example, let's say new battery tech becomes available that has double the capacitance of our current batteries and better longevity/less degradation, way simpler to replace the battery with a new and improved one to double the range of your EV rather than an ICE vehicle that would require a more efficient engine, better transmission or larger gas tank.

Does anyone know of this being in our future potentially in the next 5-10 years? Would love to extend the range on my CT without the need of that massive range extender that takes up like half the bed. Would love to hear your opinions.

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[XCeilidhX]

I honestly don’t get the range anxiety thing at all.

I have a first gen Model S 60 and prior to replacing the battery pack (after 105k miles) the range was on what would be considered the lower end these days. On the day of delivery it was 211 miles rated and degraded from there.

With that battery when there was no charging network i drove the first month I had it from Silicon Valley to Tahoe straight uphill in winter.

Years later after degrading the battery plenty by charging to nearly full every time i charged, at a supercharger, for over a year (out of necessity) we loaded up the car wirh 3 kids, my wife and I, and a totally packed trunk and frunk and drove from San Jose, CA to Las Vegas and back. No problem.

I have never run out of range before making it where I was going in over 130k miles on my car and 76k mi on my wife’s Model 3 and neither has she. We have never become significantly anxious about running out of juice because it is a non-issue.

You just plan and daisy-chain from charger to charger and it gives you a chance to stretch your legs, grab some food, use the restroom, and hit the road again. If you are “chargesitting” inside the vehicle every once and a while it gets boring but that is the opposite of anxiety.

So again, I really don’t get the range anxiety thing at all.

I guess for those hauling heavy large trailers this could become an issue but if you aren’t towing I honestly would not worry about it.

It would be like worrying in your ICE about running out if gas constantly, which I’m assuming you don’t. Pretty much everywhere has a standard wall outlet you can plug into to trickle charge in a pinch. Almost nowhere but gas stations have gasoline. I would be more anxious in an ICE vehcile at this point given my own experience but YMMV.

FWIW that’s my 2 cents. My advice is stop worrying and enjoy your BEV. Range anxiety is mostly media hype to scare people from giving up fossil fuel dependence IMHO.

Cheers

 

[Texarado]

Maybe I missed it in your thread, but I don’t know how long you’ve owned your truck. It doesn’t take too long to get over the range anxiety, but it does take a little time. I remember having it when I purchased my 2018 Model 3. It took a few weeks-ish. Getting used to how an EV works in general can be a bit of a mind Trip. Miles do seem to disappear off the battery, but that’s because everything (literally everything) is running off the battery. Whether that be alarm, sentry, remote monitoring, AC, overheat, driving, etc. So you get all these features, but it does consume your power. I’ve noticed when I’m actually driving for a roadtrip, I’m much closer to an acceptable range than when I’m doing my daily jaunts about the city.

 

[mark555055c]

You'll realize after a short time range anxiety is silly.

You do have to retrain yourself to understand "fueling" at home with EVs vs ICE where you fuel at gas stations. It's simply a matter of being proactive. In a very short time you'll see how superior it is to always leave the house fully "fueled".

When camping, you need to be aware of charging networks, or, if you really camp in the middle of nowhere for extended periods of time, you bring a generator.

 

[skinzy]

I was new to EV's and was also used to driving a truck with 500+ mile range. After seeing how easy it is to charge at superchargers and at home I now wonder why anyone thinks its an issue. What range anxiety?

 

[mongo]

Sentry chews up energy and your previous cars didn't have it, so why not turn it off? (Or at least ignore its effects).
Home charging doesn't stop energy drain from sentry but does prevent SOC lost and mostly ensures you leave home with a fullish 'tank'.
We had a 200+ mile round trip this week so I set the charge limit to 100%. Ended up getting home with 30+% left. Passed 4 (will be 6 soon) Supercharging sites over the trip.

Yes, the in-laws live in a Supercharging void and a real Cybertruck CCS adapter would be handy, but we were still able to visit them with plenty to spare by charging on the way. There are regions where this is not the case though. Winter will cut range, TBD how much, but preconditioning at home does make a big difference.

 

[CyberT]

I had a little bit of range anxiety when I first bought my 2018 M3, but it all went away when I switched from "Miles" to "Percent." With Percent remaining, you don't have to worry when you have 58% left, but 197 miles remaining sounds worse for some reason.

Like with your cellphone or laptop, we don't worry about how much mAh or time those devices have remaining in the battery, but it's easy to understand how much percent is left.

It took me a few months before realizing Percent > Miles remaining.

As for road trips, you will have nothing to worry about. Superchargers are everywhere now.

 

[dw321]

I honestly don’t get the range anxiety thing at all.

I have a first gen Model S 60 and prior to replacing the battery pack (after 105k miles) the range was on what would be considered the lower end these days. On the day of delivery it was 211 miles rated and degraded from there.

With that battery when there was no charging network i drove the first month I had it from Silicon Valley to Tahoe straight uphill in winter.

Years later after degrading the battery plenty by charging to nearly full every time i charged, at a supercharger, for over a year (out of necessity) we loaded up the car wirh 3 kids, my wife and I, and a totally packed trunk and frunk and drove from San Jose, CA to Las Vegas and back. No problem.

I have never run out of range before making it where I was going in over 130k miles on my car and 76k mi on my wife’s Model 3 and neither has she. We have never become significantly anxious about running out of juice because it is a non-issue.

You just plan and daisy-chain from charger to charger and it gives you a chance to stretch your legs, grab some food, use the restroom, and hit the road again. If you are “chargesitting” inside the vehicle every once and a while it gets boring but that is the opposite of anxiety.

So again, I really don’t get the range anxiety thing at all.

I guess for those hauling heavy large trailers this could become an issue but if you aren’t towing I honestly would not worry about it.

It would be like worrying in your ICE about running out if gas constantly, which I’m assuming you don’t. Pretty much everywhere has a standard wall outlet you can plug into to trickle charge in a pinch. Almost nowhere but gas stations have gasoline. I would be more anxious in an ICE vehcile at this point given my own experience but YMMV.

FWIW that’s my 2 cents. My advice is stop worrying and enjoy your BEV. Range anxiety is mostly media hype to scare people from giving up fossil fuel dependence IMHO.

Cheers

try driving from Flagstaff AZ to Regent ND. Nearest charger to Regent is a 50 mile one way drive. Driving on farm roads, the mileage adds up, often 100 + miles a day and now I have to drive a hundred miles to get charged unless a farmer would let me use an extension cord to hook up to their 240V dryer outlet. The midwest is not ready for prime time IMHO.

 

[REM]

The phantom drain is (hopefully) a software issue for them to resolve. Besides that, if you travel a lot, install the PlugShare app. It's a lifesaver.

 

[Paul Scott]

I told people all the time the EV has a 300+ mile range and I only have about a 200 mile bladder. Rarely does anybody drive 500 miles in a day unless you’re on a road trip and then you’re using the supercharger network and stopping to charge. I’ve been an EV owner since 2015 with a Tesla model S and later a model X and now a cyber truck. There’s plenty of charging around so topping off the battery when you need to is no big deal. So I would just enjoy your vehicle

 

[igs]

Yes I had sentry mode on as I park it outside until I figure out a garage set up, cabin overheat protection was turned off but that still seems like a lot of drain.

Sentry mode eats 10% per day.

 

[Texarado]

The phantom drain is (hopefully) a software issue for them to resolve. Besides that, if you travel a lot, install the PlugShare app. It's a lifesaver.

Phantom drain appears to have been fixed two updates ago. If I turn off sentry and overheat, it sleeps like a baby.

 

[XCeilidhX]

try driving from Flagstaff AZ to Regent ND. Nearest charger to Regent is a 50 mile one way drive. Driving on farm roads, the mileage adds up, often 100 + miles a day and now I have to drive a hundred miles to get charged unless a farmer would let me use an extension cord to hook up to their 240V dryer outlet. The midwest is not ready for prime time IMHO.

Neither was California when I got my car. When i arrived in Tahoe for that first trip I trickle charged from a wall outlet in the garage of the hotel for 3 days to be able to turn around and drive home because there were no EV chargers near where I was. But it worked. You have to plan more when you are in the infrastructure desert for sure. I had backup KOA campsites and such noted on my route in case i had to find a higher powered outlet in a pinch but never needed them. With a little planning it was entirely doable and i’d still take that over an ICE anywhere, anyday.

FWIW

Cheers

 

[dw321]

Neither was California when I got my car. When i arrived in Tahoe for that first trip I trickle charged from a wall outlet in the garage of the hotel for 3 days to be able to turn around and drive home because there were no EV chargers near where I was. But it worked. You have to plan more when you are in the infrastructure desert for sure. I had backup KOA campsites and such noted on my route in case i had to find a higher powered outlet in a pinch but never needed them. With a little planning it was entirely doable and i’d still take that over an ICE anywhere, anyday.

FWIW

Cheers

Thanks for the info. I know charging in the hinterland is getting better but I'm not there yet - mentally. I can handle the extra 3 hours - 1 way - to charge an EV on this trip but having to worry about charging while running around the boonies at my destination would ruin the trip for me - I think.

 

[Chris9702L]

Why not use the wall charger when your car is outside at home? It will charge the truck about 5% per night so it will negate the sentry mode drain. Figure out the garage situation. And bring in California you probably have superchargers everywhere.
My wife called me traveling back home and was freaked out because it said she would arrive at 1% at a supercharger she was going to. I said “Keep Calm and Slow Down”. She slowed down 10mph and arrived at the charger at 3%.

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