A Cautionary Tale of a Range Anxiety Cause
“I think I’ve finally got some material for writing that guest blog post we talked about me writing”, she said. “Actually you don’t have any material, but I do,” as I uncorked a bottle of wine. So went the conversation when a certain someone returned from a shopping trip recently.
“I think I’ve finally got some material for writing that guest blog post we talked about me writing”, she said. “Actually you don’t have any material, but I do,” as I uncorked a bottle of wine. So went the conversation when a certain someone returned from a shopping trip recently.
Five Hours Earlier
One of her friends was in town for the weekend, and they
wanted to do some shopping. She told me
of their intended stops (four of them, including a necessary stop for dog food
as we were going out of town the next day and it would be good if the dog
sitter [aka Mom] had some food to give the dog) and asked if I thought she
could make it. Even without calculating
exactly how many miles her trip was going to be I knew it would be close – not
for your average ActiveE driver, just for her or Don Louv. Overall our ActiveE is averaging about 3.5
miles/kWh, and someone is bringing that number down despite significantly less
than 50% of total seat time. Once I determined
the miles I concluded that with her normal driving habits she’d have somewhere between
2 and 6 miles remaining when she got home.
After warnings about not driving with her normal vigor, they set off.
One Hour Earlier
The phone rings. “Hi”,
she says. “I’m near your mother’s house
and am wondering if I can make it home or if I need to stop by and charge up a
bit.” “What? You’re where?
None of your stops were within 20 miles of her house. How did you get there?” “Long story”, she says – “we’re in Norwich and just want to
know if we can make it home – the range indicator shows fewer miles than it is to
get home.” “Its notoriously inaccurate,
we’ll need to calculate it ourselves.” I say.
How much battery do you have left an what is your average miles/kWh?”, I
ask. “Where do I check those?” she
asks. Frustration level rises. While she and her passenger struggle to find
the info, I begin plotting a route home from their location to determine how
much range they will need. Eventually they are able to find the
information and I calculate that they should be able to make it home with a few
miles to spare. Warnings are again given
about driving style and we hang up. I then
ponder how my afternoon may be disrupted by the need to jump in the ICE to head
off to some as of yet unknown location to pick them up and wait on BMW to
rescue a stranded ActiveE.
Now (OK – actually
last Saturday)
Car pulls into driveway, big smile on her face. “I made it 114 miles!” she says. “We even had enough range to make a stop at
the package store to pick up some wine and sangria!” Good thing, because I’m
going to need a glass. “I think I’ve finally got some material for writing that
guest blog post we talked about me writing”, she said. “Actually you don’t have any material, but I
do,” as I uncorked a bottle of wine. Her infamous
Beaker frowny face ensues. “I hate to
break it to you, but the trip odometer wasn’t reset before you left – you only
went about 98 miles. On the upside,
that’s fairly impressive considering you normally average about 2.9 miles/kWh. It’s good, but not exactly guest blogger
material.”
“So, was your last stop at Kelley’s Pace the only one you
didn’t get to make?” I ask. Long
pause. “No, we only made it to the
Westbrook outlets.” “No Clinton Outlets,
no dog food? Why didn’t you stop for dog
food? It’s right off the highway on the
way home.” I say confused. “We used the
GPS to navigate around some traffic on the interstate and for some reason it
took us back roads all the way to Norwich.” she says. “Guess you didn’t realize the GPS won’t bring
you back to a highway once you try to route around it. Afraid you’d get lost if
you deviated from the GPS directions, I take it?” “Yes, and by the time I
recognized where we were, I wasn’t sure I could make it home” she responded.
So there it was – a little more than five months after a
bout of inverse range anxiety, it took getting ‘lost’ for somebody to finally
develop a case of actual range anxiety.
Sunday Morning
Fortunately the dog sitter was more than willing to stop at
the pet store and pick up dog food on the way to our house for the
aforementioned dog sitting stint. Of
course that’s probably because Amelia is her only grandchild.
Learnings
With anything that doesn’t go as expected, it’s always good
to look back and assess what you would do the same or differently so the next time things play out better. Here are
our (I really don’t mean ‘our’) learnings.
- Don’t proclaim “You know we can’t get gas in this like we can in a ‘normal’ car. When we run out, we run out.” to your car mates who don’t have much EV experience. Especially before having any idea as to whether you’re going to make it home. “I could never own an electric vehicle” is the likely retort just before they decide to take an in car nap.
- Don’t ‘Count it as a Win’ when you thought you made it 114 miles (but didn’t) after an adventure like this shopping trip. Good chance someone else views it as good blog fodder.
- When you are lost, be sure to understand the equation (remaining battery capacity x 27 x average miles/kWh) and compare the result to the distance the iDrive Navigation System indicates to get you to your destination. The likelihood of this information being useful is 100%.
- Do stop at the package store – while not preventing a less than flattering blog post, a bottle of wine does make an excellent peace offering.
