Dealing with Range Anxiety

[DaveMiller]

For my first 4 months of ownership, I have charged my I-Miev using the level 1 charger that was supplied with my car. This worked fine for me, since my round trip drive to work is about 10 miles, and nothing in our town is more than 20 miles round trip from our home. Plus, Normal Illinois has many places to charge in our “EV Town”. My I-Miev has never been below 2 bars of charge. This I-Miev has made me an EV believer, but honestly I still have some range anxiety deep down inside when I turn on the defrosters or heater. I think of my I-Miev as having a 2 gallon gas tank, and plan my trips accordingly. Since there are currently good state and federal rebate programs, two weeks ago I installed a level 2 EV charger in my garage.

Even though the level 1 charger worked for me, psychologically having a level 2 charger in my garage has helped alleviate my range anxiety. I find it comforting knowing I can run Saturday morning errands using the heater at comfortable temperature, come home and top off the car in a few hours, and then do some more driving in the afternoon.

I think using the heater (and the air condition come summer) without skimping to save charge is what relieves the range anxiety for me. The heater in my I-Miev works better than I expected. I feel warmth much sooner than in our gas car. I now use the IMiev heater like my gas car and plug in when I get home.

One last comment. Yesterday I filled topped of our other car with gas. It was 25 degrees (Fahrenheit) with a brisk north wind. It was very cold standing by the pump while I spent $30! Need I say more?

Dave
2012 Black SE

 

[peterdambier]

Our ex-car reminds me of range ...

well, it consumed ROZ 98 fuel and when the time came for government and fuel mafia to remove regular unleaded and later to replace premium unleaded (ROZ 95) with something poisonous for ancient engines, they decided to short ROZ 98. Not every gas station had it. It was almost as difficult as finding a public power socket.

The other problem was my empty wallet so I bought fuel for 20 Euros only. When it got more expensive and me still buying gas for 20 Euros - guess what?

Our i-MiEV has more range than our gasser had

Cheers
Peter and Karin

 

[JoeS]

...Yesterday I filled topped of our other car with gas. It was 25 degrees (Fahrenheit) with a brisk north wind. It was very cold standing by the pump while I spent $30! Need I say more?

Amazing how disgusted one becomes with the cost and inconvenience associated with ICE vehicles.

Dave. whereas the L1 EVSE can provide a satisfactory charging rate if you're a commuter with a fixed route, with careful forethought the L2 EVSE can now greatly expand your daily mileage. For example, 210 miles in one day, no sweat -
http://myimiev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=12726#p12726

Glad you're finding L2 expanding your horizons and maybe further reducing your use of your ICE vehicle. In winter, preheating the car while it's still plugged in using the Remote soon becomes a habit - simply one of those things to do before leaving home which saves some battery energy. I keep my Remote near the kitchen for convenience.

BTW, I refuse to kowtow to GM's use of that word, and prefer to use something like "Range Awareness" as we know exactly how far we can go. Range Anxiety is for the ICE commuter late for work and running on empty or, lately, it's the Volt owner trying to get to his/her destination without the ICE kicking in. :twisted:

 

[DaveMiller]

"Range Awareness" does better describe my concerns. Thanks for pointing that out to me.
Dave