Range anxiety

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The Nissan Leaf has a United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rated range of 73 mi (117 km)

Range anxiety is the fear that a vehicle has insufficient range to reach its destination and would thus strand the vehicle's occupants.[1][2][3][4]

The term, which is primarily used in reference to battery electric vehicles (BEVs), is considered to be one of the major barriers to large scale adoption of all-electric cars.[1][5][6] The term range anxiety was first reported in the press on September 1, 1997 in the San Diego Business Journal by Richard Acello referring to worries of GM EV1 electric car drivers.[7] On July 6, 2010, General Motors filed to trade mark the term, stating it was for the purpose of "promoting public awareness of electric vehicle capabilities".[8]

Contents

Responses to range anxiety [edit]

“ The range anxiety will limit the ability of the all electric car to be used in certain specific applications, even if the battery costs come down. ”

—Bill Reinert, National manager of advanced technology at Toyota’s U.S. arm[9][when?]

The concern that users of all-electric vehicles may become stranded due to inadequate battery performance/capacity has led to public calls for extensive public charging networks.[5] In response, electric vehicle manufacturers have sought to quell the concerns through increased battery capacities to extend the vehicle's range; through proprietary Revive technology, which is a battery reserve that can be released by electric vehicle users by texting or calling an operations center;[5] by using a range extender solution, as implemented in the Chevrolet Volt or the Fisker Karma,[1][10][11][12][13][14] or through the proposed Ridek modular vehicle approach whereby a vehicle's chassis could be exchanged for one containing a larger capacity battery at a network of chassis-exchange stations before embarking on a long journey.

Since lack of information can be a contributing factor, a good navigation system[15] with knowledge of the battery capacity and remaining distance can minimize the fear. There is also the possibility to minimize the fear before buying a vehicle.[16]

The American Automobile Association (AAA) has started a road-recharge pilot program in six cities, Knoxville, Los Angeles, Portland, San Francisco, Seattle and Tampa. EV-driving AAA members can use the truck’s level 3 charging capacity to recharge a Nissan Leaf to 80% capacity in 30 minutes.[1]

Battery swapping [edit]

Battery swapping is a strategy to avoid range anxiety that allows electric cars to extend their range through a battery switch station. At the station, the depleted battery is swapped for fully charged battery in about the same time that it takes to fill up a car with gasoline.[17] Battery swapping is common in warehouses using electric forklift trucks.[18]

Better Place's battery switching station in Israel

As the electric car emerged as the main competing technology in the late 1890s until the 1920s, the concept of exchangeable battery service was first proposed as early as 1896 in order to overcome the limited operating range of electric cars and trucks. The concept was first put into practice by Hartford Electric Light Company through the GeVeCo battery service and initially available for electric trucks. The vehicle owner purchased the vehicle from General Vehicle Company (GVC, a subsidiary of the General Electric Company) without a battery and the electricity was purchased from Hartford Electric through an exchangeable battery. The owner paid a variable per-mile charge and a monthly service fee to cover maintenance and storage of the truck. Both vehicles and batteries were modified to facilitate a fast battery exchange. The service was provided between 1910 to 1924 and during that period covered more than 6 million miles. Beginning in 1917 a similar successful service was operated in Chicago for owners of Milburn Light Electric cars who also could buy the vehicle without the batteries.[19]

Better Place

The Better Place network is the first modern commercial deployment of the battery switching model. The Renault Fluence Z.E. is the first electric car with a switchable battery available for the Better Place network in operation in Israel and Denmark.[20] Better Place launched its first battery-swapping station in Israel, in Kiryat Ekron, near Rehovot in March 2011. The battery exchange process takes five minutes.[21] As of December 2012, a total of 518 Fluence Z.E.s had been sold in the country. Sales during the first quarter of 2013 improved, with 297 cars sold, bringing the total fleet in Israel to 815 units.[22] As of December 2012, there were 17 battery switch stations fully operational in Denmark enabling customers to drive anywhere across the country in an electric car.[23] Fluence Z.E. sales totaled 198 units through December 2012.[24] By late 2012 the company began to suffer financial difficulties, and decided to put on hold the roll out in Australia and reduce its non-core activities in North America, as the company decided to concentrate its resources on its two existing markets.[25][26][27]

Free loaners [edit]

As a mitigation to range anxiety issues, some carmakers are offering the use of gasoline-powered standard car for free with the purchase of an electric vehicle to mitigate, thus allowing their customers to cover long trips on a certain number of days per year. BMW i is also offering the option of a gasoline-powered range extender engine added to the BMW i3 all-electric car.

BMW i3
The BMW i3 will offer a free loaner for longer trips and the option of a range-extender engine to avoid range anxiety.

BMW i is planning to offer additional mobility packages for trips where the range of an BMW i3 would not be enough to allow customers to cover longer distances, such as providing a conventional BMW vehicle on a given number of days per year.[28]

The carmaker will also offer a gasoline range extender engine as an option.[29] The range extender will be powered by the same 650 cc two-cylinder gasoline engine used in the BMW C650 GT motorcycle. The range extender engine will only engage when the battery level drops to a pre-specified point, acting purely as a generator to produce electricity to extend the range to about 320 km (200 mi).[30] The i3 performance in range-extending mode may be more limited than when it is running on battery power, as BMW clarified that the range extender is designed not for long-distance travel but purely as a emergency backup to keep the electric system going until the next recharging location. [31] The range-extender option costs an additional €3,000 (US$4,000).[32]

Fiat 500e

In April 2013, Fiat North America announced a program to allow customers to cover longer travel distances, as each Fiat 500e purchase will include the use of rental vehicles for up to 12 days a year for free through the first three years of ownership. The program, called ePass, entitles 500e owners to a business account with enough points to rent a gasoline-powered standard car with Enterprise Holdings, which owns Enterprise Rent-A-Car, National Car Rental and Alamo Rent a Car. Fiat will deposit additional points the following two years to extend the program.[33][34]

See also [edit]

References [edit]

  1. ^ a b c Eberle, Ulrich; von Helmolt, Rittmar (2010-05-14). "Sustainable transportation based on electric vehicle concepts: a brief overview". Royal Society of Chemistry. Retrieved 2010-06-08. 
  2. ^ Backstrom, Michael (May 22, 2009). "Comments of Southern California Edison Company on the California Public Utilities Commission Staff’s White Paper, Light-Duty V". p. 4. Retrieved 26 June 2010. 
  3. ^ Schott, Ben (January 15, 2009). "Range Anxiety". The New York Times. Retrieved 26 June 2010. 
  4. ^ Rahim, Saqib (May 7, 2010). "Will Lithium-Air Battery Rescue Electric Car Drivers From 'Range Anxiety'?". The New York Times. Retrieved 26 June 2010. 
  5. ^ a b c "Policy options for electric vehicle charging infrastructure in C40 cities". Clinton Climate Initiative. Harvard. Retrieved 23 July 2010. 
  6. ^ Gordon-Bloomfield, Nikki (September 16, 201). "Electric Car Out of Juice? Pray for an Angel". TheCarConnection.com. Retrieved 23 September 2010. 
  7. ^ "First public citation of range anxiety". 
  8. ^ http://jalopnik.com/5626306/how-gm-will-use-fear-to-sell-you-a-chevy-volt
  9. ^ "Will ‘range anxiety’ limit the electric car?". Analysis & Opinion (Reuters). Apr 26, 2010. Retrieved 23 July 2010. [dead link]
  10. ^ "AVL's Range Extender Allows Electrically Driven Ranges equal to those of Conventional Vehicles". 
  11. ^ "AVL Introduces New Modular Range Extender Technologies and Engineering Services (17 May 2009)". 
  12. ^ "The AVL Range Extender". 
  13. ^ "Driving Electrically: "AVL Pure Range Extender" for Electric Vehicles". 
  14. ^ "AVL introduces its own Wankel rotary EV range-extender". 
  15. ^ Real time driving range display. 
  16. ^ "iEV electric car simulator". 
  17. ^ Better Place. "How we give the electric car unlimited range". Better Place. Retrieved 2014-04-21. 
  18. ^ Ars Technica (2009-03-09). "Industrial electrical vehicle stalwarts head out on the road". simpleNews. Retrieved 2013-04-21. 
  19. ^ Kirsch, David A. (2000). The Electric Vehicle and the Burden of History. New Brunswick, New Jersey, and London: Rutgers University Press. pp. 153–162. ISBN 0-8135-2809-7. 
  20. ^ "Better Place. The Renault Fluence ZE". Better Place. 2010-10-22. Retrieved 2010-10-22. 
  21. ^ Udasin, Sharon (24 March 2011). "Better Place launches 1st Israeli battery-switching station". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 2011-03-25. 
  22. ^ Globes (2013-04-04). "Better Place sales improve in first quarter". Globes. Retrieved 2013-04-21.  A total of 518 units were sold in 2012 and 297 cars during the first quarter of 2013
  23. ^ "Better Place Delivers For Demanding Amsterdam Taxi Drivers". Better Place. Retrieved 2012-12-19. 
  24. ^ De Danske Bilimportører (November 2012). "Statistik - Personbiler: 2011- Hele Hele året/januar-november 2012" [Statistics - Passenger cars: 2011- All year/January-November 2012] (in Danish). Bilimp. Retrieved 2013-01-19. Select year and click on Pr. model for details of sales by brand and model.
  25. ^ David McCowen (2013-02-18). "The rise and fall of Better Place". Drive.com.au. Retrieved 2013-04-14. 
  26. ^ Tim Beissmann (2012-12-13). "Renault Fluence Z.E. launch delayed due to infrastructure hold-ups". Car Advice. Retrieved 2013-04-21. 
  27. ^ "Better Place winding down ops in North America and Australia, to focus on Denmark and Israel". Green Car Congress. 2013-04-17. Retrieved 2013-04-21. 
  28. ^ Philippe Crowe (2013-03-05). "BMW Reveals i3 Coming This Year". HybridCars.com. Retrieved 2013-03-06. 
  29. ^ Viknesh Vijayenthiran (2010-07-20). "First Major Outing For BMW Megacity Vehicle At 2012 London Olympic Games". Motor Authority. Retrieved 2010-07-23. 
  30. ^ Greg Kable (2013-02-24). "First rides in BMW i8 hybrid sportscar and all-electric i3". Autocar. Retrieved 2013-02-27. 
  31. ^ John Voelcker (2013-03-12). "BMW i3 Electric Car: ReX Range Extender Not For Daily Use?". Green Car Reports. Retrieved 2013-03-12. 
  32. ^ Jay Cole (2013-02-26). "First BMW i3 Electric Car Test Ride, 2.3 Gallon Range Extender Option To Cost About $4,000". Inside EVs. Retrieved 2013-02-26. 
  33. ^ Larry P. Vellequette (2013-04-01). "Buy a Fiat 500e, use alternate cars for free". Automotive News. Retrieved 2013-04-07. 
  34. ^ Jay Cole (2013-04-02). "Fiat 500e Purchasers Get 12 Days Of Free Rentals A Year. EV To Be Priced April 13th, On Sale This Summer". InsideEVs.com. Retrieved 2013-04-07. 

External links [edit]

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