Study: Range Anxiety Dissipates Quickly Among EV Owners

by Guillaume Rivard January 30, 2020

So, you’d like to go electric for your next vehicle purchase, but you have a few apprehensions? You’re not alone, of course.

Limited range and access to public charging stations are the two main reasons people give for not choosing an electric vehicle.

However, a new study by the American Automobile Association (AAA) reveals that these fears diminish greatly after a short while.

Range anxiety decreased or disappeared for 77 percent of new EV owners. As a matter of fact, 95 percent of respondents have never run out of charge, even though their mileage is up (63 km per day on average) from when they were burning gas.

Truth be told, the vast majority of new EVs on the market offer more than 300 kilometres of range, from the Tesla Model 3 (402-518 km) to the Chevrolet Bolt EV (417 km), Hyundai Kona Electric (415 km), Kia Soul EV and Niro EV (up to 383 km) and Nissan LEAF PLUS (up to 363 km).

As for access to charging stations, 70 percent of EV owners stopped worrying about it, the study found. Why? Because they realized soon enough that three quarters of charges happen at home. The remainder is split between public charging stations (12 percent) and work (10 percent).

Another interesting discovery by the AAA is that people who own gas and electric vehicles typically do 87 percent of their driving in the latter. We assume they spend a lot of time around town and don’t travel very much.

On this side of the border, customers also have sweet incentives when it comes to buying an EV, including up to $5,000 from the Canadian government. Residents of Quebec and British Columbia can get an additional rebate of up to $8,000 and $3,000, respectively.

Share on Facebook

Gallery