Electric Cars and Charge Anxiety

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Many years ago I used an old Beta SP camera with batteries that lasted just ten minutes per charge. I didn’t know if they would last long enough to get the entirety of what I was filming so I needed quite a few batteries. Since then I have used laptops, video cameras with 7hr long batteries, diving flash lights where I swapped new batteries in for each dive and more.

Dealing with batteries is an old habit that I have had for almost my entire life. I don’t worry about the range for electric cars because I always live by the rule of thirds. One third to drive out, one third to drive home, and one third in case of problems.

I know that in warm weather I can use about 15 percent of the battery to drive from where I charge the battery to home, and 15 percent to drive back. I know that in winter it can go as high as 20 percent to drive from A to B, so 40 percent. This means that I want to have at least 30 percent of the battery to drive back to where I charge the car.

My anxiety doesn’t come from driving range but charge time and charge price. I have seen that the price goes from the price of electricity in the home to 25 centimes at some charge points, right up to 65 centimes in the neighbouring village. This means that it makes sense to charge where it’s “free”. It’s not free, it’s within the apartment’s electricity bill, but at a lower rate than it would be from charge points.

The battery is now at 50 percent. If I drive to do something tomorrow I will use about 5-10 percent, and in so doing I will be down to 40 percent charge. At this point I am less likely to have the range to get back to the charge point, and so I will pay a premium for power, and be stuck at the charger for from 2hrs in the best case scenario to 20hrs if I discharge the battery completely.

For two to three years I would dive every week, sometimes two to three times a day. In these situations I had 230 bars of air. We had one third to dive out, one third, to return, and one third spare. Diving is about knowing you have a limited amount of air. If you run out you drown. If you’re comfortable with having a limited amount of air during a dive, then car range isn’t that big a concern. Worst case scenario you have to stop in the middle of the road and call an emergency charging solution. I don’t know if they exist.

If I had my own electric car I would, at the very least get an electric socket installed by my parking space but I would also seriously consider using a jackery battery type solution. I could charge the battery in the cave, and then carry it to the car, to charge it, before using the car.

In theory I could even get some jackery solar panels and charge the jackery batteries from sunrise until about 1300. After that the sun disappears. I could then have home generated solar power for the car. Electric car charge points cost from 700-900 CHF in Switzerland, and solar panels and jackery power packs come to the same price, or cheaper. Jackery officially say that you can’t do that. I still think you could, if you have the entire night to charge. Most people do.

Remember, this is a thought experiment. I have not spent hours studying the feasibility of the idea. Jackery have watt hours of power and cars have kilowatt hours of power so at best you could top up the battery after a trip to the shops and back, if it uses one or two percent of power, but no more.

Source of Charge Deficit

Usually I use fourty percent of the charge and then I charge the car for eight hours. A week or two ago I had to change from summer to winter tyres. This trip took thirty percent of the battery charge. I returned home and the next time I did the same trip I was down to fourty percent of the battery. I stuck around for over eight hours to recharge the car on another day but got it to eighty percent. I now had a twenty percent deficit, which is four hours of charging. This means that going from where I charge to where I live takes another thirty percent.

Although I am now at fifty percent taking it to recharge will deplete it to 20-30 percent, and that means sixteen hours of charging. My issue is with the time that I would have to hang around before the car is fully charged. In this scenario it makes sense to leave the car to charge overnight, and use the petrol car in the mean time.

That’s why I experience charge anxiety, rather than range anxiety.

Different Cards and Apps

The charge situation is currently chaotic. You need an app for each provider, and a card for each provider. The prices are chaotic, ranging from 25 centimes, to 89 Centimes per watt. Some charge parking time, as well as charge time, and some charge 19 CHF for the card. For some reason the app on the phone isn’t enough. They want you to use a card as well. If you had a card and app for each option you would have half a dozen cards, and apps. Charging needs to be regulated.

And Finally

Every five percent of battery I use means an extra hour of charging. Going to the shops takes two percent, so 24 minutes of charging. This means that if I could plug in after shopping I’d be at one hundred percent within 24 minutes. If I go to the book lending place in Founex and back I might use 10 percent. I need to charge for two hours. The trip to the charger takes 30 percent, which usually means a six hour wait.

With a power socket in my garage I wouldn’t notice charge time. It wouldn’t dictate how long I hang around.

All cars should be electric and all garages should, as a minimum, have slow charging. That they do not limits how enjoyable electric car use is.