Buying An EV Is The Best Cure For Range Anxiety, Survey Finds

It’s still one of the major pain points for prospective EV buyers, but there’s a solution, according to a Recurrent report.

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Iulian Dnistran

By: Iulian Dnistran

Nov 29, 2023 at 2:14pm ET

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Range anxiety. It’s one of the biggest concerns for people who are looking into getting an electric vehicle, up there with the high pricing that we’re all accustomed to, and worries about the charging experience.

But while the pricing thing is quite hard for the average person to manipulate, range anxiety can be apparently cured by simply biting the bullet and buying an EV–if it’s within reach, of course.

According to a new survey from Recurrent Auto, which has data from about 17,000 EVs in the United States thanks to its users who connected their cars to Recurrent’s servers, range anxiety peaks for people who are about 1-2 years away from purchasing their first battery-powered car.

However, after the EV is being used on a regular basis, range anxiety decreases steadily and eventually even vanishes from some owners, as per the report.

As per the survey, 78% of electric car owners report that feelings of range anxiety decrease the longer they drive–and learn more about–their cars. The data also shows that 76% of future EV owners worry about range, while almost 59% of current EV drivers report none.

With this being said, people who use their battery-powered cars to drive long distances have higher range anxiety than drivers who use their EVs for shorter trips, which is understandable. It’s one thing to drive 20-30 miles and then recharge at home and another thing to go hundreds of miles and need reliable chargers along the way.

EV Range Anxiety Drops With Experience (Source: Recurrent Auto)

EV Range Anxiety Difference Between Long Trips And Daily Drives (Source: Recurrent Auto)

To come up with these results, Recurrent Auto polled over 250 EV drivers and shoppers. It also asked EV-curious people how many years from a potential purchase they were. All drivers rated their anxiety on a scale from 0-4 with 4 being the most worry, or “almost all the time” and 0 being no worry.

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Another study published by S&P Global Mobility noted that range anxiety was the third biggest concern among people who are considering a new EV, after pricing and worries about charging. With this being said, the openness to purchasing an electric vehicle has gone down in recent years.

But what’s your take on range anxiety? Is it that big of a concern or is it something you can brush off easily? Let us know in the comments below.

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