Rivian Range Anxiety Diaries — Part 1: No Big Thing
Anxiety is a peculiar emotion. It isn’t something you feel relative to a present reality, but a future one. Contrast anxiety with say, happiness or sadness. You laugh because of something you are currently thinking about. Or you cry, because of something sad that you have learnt already happened.
Anxiety is fear of what might happen. Meaning: it hasn’t happened yet.
Nine years ago, we almost ran out of gas. I remember it just as much because we didn’t run out of gas and because of how afraid I was that we were going to. We had just taken the ferry across to Newfoundland to see friends and we had to drive all the way across the island. We were in a hurry to get to the ferry terminal following dinner in Nova Scotia and did not have time to fill our car up before lining up to board. We assumed there would be a gas station close to the terminal on the other end and we could fill up no problem.
So, it seems did every other (or at least most other) passenger(s) on the ferry. When we arrived at said closest gas station there were lines for every pump. When we got to the pump, it was clear they had no more gas. Panic sets in. Or really: range anxiety.
At that point, we could see on the map that the nearest gas station was roughly 20 km away and we had 30 km of estimated range. We put our faith in calculations and German engineers that the estimation would be accurate. That day, they were.
When talking with me about the Rivian, people who aren’t familiar with electric vehicles usually ask me two questions:
- “What is it?”
- “How far will it go?”
Having just driven 700 miles and seen only three other Rivians on the way, the first question still is a fair one. It’s a super-electric-unicorn truck from tomorrow that exists only in pictures and dreams for most people.
The second question, I find a bit mystifying. It seems reasonable enough: range is a measurable dimension of performance. But it’s kind of like meeting someone who has a horse and asking if it likes carrots. Maybe it does. But if that’s all you know about horses, you don’t know much.
The range question relies on a core assumption: if you go far enough in an electric vehicle, you’ll reach a place where you can’t charge it. That, or if you do reach that place, it’ll take you forever and a day to charge. Conclusion: Better stick to gas.
Except, gas isn’t the magic bullet for range anxiety (as my Newfoundlandic preamble illustrates). Plan your petroleum-fueled road trip poorly and you can end up with just as much fear and doubt. An EV road trip in America currently requires just a little more planning than a gasoline-powered one, but only just.
Consider: Our 700 mile trip over two days resulted in three stops for charging. That’s the same as what we would previously had expected with our old, gas-powered family hauler. We only were blocked on using a charger one time, and we had more than enough margin to get to another that met our needs in a reasonable time. A caveat here is that we were driving through a heavily populated part of the country with a fair density of EVs. Your mileage may vary elsewhere. But with Level 3 charging, we stop, we plug, and in a short time, we go.
Each stop aligned with a meal time and took between 30–60 minutes. Again: exactly the same as before. The fact that we are charging an EV that entire time versus a five minute fuel up before pausing to eat is immaterial. Roadside picnics are a longstanding American tradition — and it’s how our family travels. We tailgate. We play games. We enjoy the journey.
The verdict on the EV road trip (so far): Nothing is perfect, but it isn’t as weird as you might think. Most importantly, we have felt zero range anxiety. None. Nada. Planning, flexibility, and patience in good measure are enough to make it all work without the fear of being stranded. All we really had to do was make sure the kids were fed. If anyone was anxious it was them and their stomachs.
That’s probably the best advice we have: Bring plenty of snacks.
