Why Range Anxiety is a Thing of the Past
This is a new piece in a series of my personal musings on the digital customer experience in mobility.
Why digital customer experience? I believe the change in mobility behavior is not as much about new transportation technology but about how people interact with the new forms of mobility — the user experience, the interface, and the wow moments that set future mobility apart from an industry that hasn’t changed all that much in the past 100 years (planes, trains, and automobiles).
I will start with two articles on a theme dear to my heart — the transition to sustainable mobility through electrification.
- Why range anxiety is a thing of the past
- Future formula — or how do people change their behavior
With prices at the pump at EUR 2.00 a liter it is a lot more economical and sustainable to drive a battery electric vehicle (BEV). 100km of electricity will cost you €10, while 100km of gasoline is easily twice as much!
The #1 reason that prevents people from switching to electric vehicles is range anxiety — being afraid to run out of electricity while not knowing where to charge, especially on long trips or if you can’t install a wall box at home. After driving a BEV for the past year, while not owning a wall box at home or at work, I can happily attest to the fact that range anxiety is a thing of the past!
Three factors have essentially canceled out range anxiety: 1. Range, 2. Charge point availability, 3. Charge speed
FACTOR 1: Range
The latest electric vehicles offer a range of 400km or more. This means you don’t have to stop to charge as often and will have enough range to get you to the next charger. Of course, gasoline cars still have longer ranges with an average of 650km but at 400+ km EVs are able to offer enough distance for the average user even on a long-distance journey (see my next article on the travel logs of an EV trip through Italy). On long trips, you might have to charge twice but I have never had to charge more than that since I’m not particularly eager to travel further than 800km a day anyway.
People point out that the range is also affected by driving speed, temperature, and electric-powered features (AC, navigation, heating…) Yes that has an impact but most modern EVs have improved their battery management so that the effects are decreased. Moreover, for a good user experience, these effects are transparent to the user when you start your route planning. Yes, you might have to charge a bit earlier on your long-distance journey while powering your AC but it’s most likely going to be 30min earlier on a 5-hour trip. Not too bad.
Moreover, the range will continue to increase. Battery costs have dropped from €900 per kWh in 2010 to just €100 over the past decade according to a recent Bloomberg article. By 2023, the cost per kWh is expected to dip below €80 (also the number is often seen as the point where electric cars will reach price parity with petrol and diesel vehicles. Cheaper kWh will result in bigger batteries which will soon outpace the average range of a gasoline car. Yes, the recent shortages of battery materials will slow down this process, but I don’t think the trend will decline due to continuous innovation by major suppliers and OEMs.
FACTOR 2: CHARGE POINTS
You can pretty much find charge points everywhere now — even in the remote Swedish or Italian countryside :-) It used to be that you had to pray that along your route a charge point would be available and working. Nowadays, you have fast chargers (100kW+) and even hyper chargers (300kW+) at many rest stops and gas stations along your route.
For me, the innovation here isn’t the proliferation of charge points, it is the way a user is able to find them and safely and enjoyably plan their route accordingly. EV navigation systems will efficiently calculate the charge stops you need on your route. It’s even fun to pre-select your planned rest stops and know when and where you will go for lunch or grab a coffee and switch drivers…
In cities, most people only drive an average of 30km per day. With the long-range batteries (400km+) you will only need to charge at most once every week! It’s a myth that EVs will have to charge every night. I usually charge once weekly at a public charge point near my home, office, or gym. Sometimes, when I am shopping, I will use a public charge point for 1–2 hours and top off 20–30% of my battery. The experience is actually convenient since I often find empty charge points in high-street locations. Of course, sometimes they are occupied by non-electric vehicles but hey, it’s just a nice top-off, not a mandatory charge anyway.
I have a friend who said he would not get an EV because he doesn’t have a charge point in front of his house… Well, does he have a gas station in front of his house? You will charge your EV as often as you go to a gas station. I would go as far as predicting, that in the future with long-range batteries and high-speed charging, you will only go to the existing network of gas stations to charge your car once every week or 2. Done… The user experience of gas stations is a practiced behavior and the infrastructure with cafés, food options, and restrooms exist.
FACTOR 3: CHARGE SPEED
With charge speeds increasing to well above 150kw+ it takes a mere 20min to take your car from 20% to 80%. Why 20–80% — that is the ideal range to replenish since it takes exponentially longer to fill up the last 20% (and it also deteriorates your battery quality to always juice up to full). That’s barely enough to get a coffee, go for a bio break and answer a few emails.
People and experts have proposed that charge points will need to offer restaurants, meeting facilities, or even hotels. Never have I ever spent longer than 40 minutes at a fast charger on a highway, why would I want to stay overnight?
In terms of user experience, Tesla quickly understood that the charge time can be used productively to play games or continue watching your latest Netflix, Disney+, and YouTube show — all are available during charging on the big display. Most of the time, once we have gone for a bio break, eaten our sandwich, and taken the dog for a quick walk, the car is already ready to head off again…
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