- A new study has found a surprising number of EV owners run out of charge.
- 10% of EV owners reported waiting over an hour for a charging spot.
- Despite these and other issues, 91% of EV owners said their next car will be electric.
Range anxiety is often seen as something of the past as many electric vehicles can now travel hundreds of miles on a single charge. However, a new study has found that 16% of EV owners have completely run out of juice.
That’s a surprising statistic and it was revealed in a new study commissioned by Ideal Power, which focused on how widespread concerns were among EV owners. Besides revealing a number of drivers have run out of power, researchers discovered that 44% of owners said “range anxiety has negatively impacted their overall satisfaction with owning an EV.”
More: BMW And Mini Top J.D. Power’s EV Satisfaction Study, Nissan Comes Last
One of the biggest concerns EV owners have is arriving at a charging station to find all spots full. 75% of owners have said this has happened to them at least once and 10% of respondents said they have waited an hour or more for a charging spot. Thankfully, that’s rare as the average wait is typically 15 minutes or less.
Speaking of charging, 70% of EV owners charge their vehicles mostly at home. 16% rely primarily on public charging stations, while the remaining 14% do a little bit of both.
Given the concerns about range and charging, it’s not surprising to learn that 42% of EV owners would pay extra to reserve a charging spot. Interestingly, we’re not talking about a buck or two as the average amount people were willing to pay was $15. That’s quite a bit as the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics notes the average electricity price is $0.174 per kWh.
Despite issues with charging, 56% of owners said range anxiety was more stressful than charge anxiety. Of course, these are both closely related.
While owners reported a handful of negative experiences and downsides, the vast majority of people in the study loved EVs. In particular, an impressive 91% said their next vehicle will be electric.
