how come no one talks about gas anxiety?

[ucmndd]

If you run out of charge and need 5 hours of charging you really didn’t plan well at all or you are extremely far off the beating path. Theoretically, your destination or a Supercharger should be fairly close-by at that point so really you should only need to charge a little bit to get there.

The mindset of needing to fully charge to 100% at every charger is false.

Point being, I can go literally anywhere in an ICE car with precisely zero forethought and planning with respect to how I am going to obtain energy for my trip. That doesn't exist in an EV, at least not yet.

That's why "gas anxiety" doesn't exist and isn't a thing. It's pretty simple.

 

[Uncle Paul]

One of the reasons for our range anxiety is that we are faced with a change from what we have done before.

If we had been driving on electricity for 20 years and someone came up with the idea for a petro engine, we might also have anxiety about changing to gas as well.

Instead of simply plugging into our personal charging station and having a full tank every morning we would be told that we would need to fill our tanks with 20 gallons of a noxious, poison, combustion fluid. Warned not to breath the fumes get it on our skin or turn on the car inside our garage as it would quickly fill the air with death causing carbon monoxide. We would be forced to pay much more for this fuel than for electricity as it would be heavily taxed to pay for pet government projects.

The fueling stations would be located on some of the most convenient and expensive locations, right next to food stores, hospitals, churches and schools. Their large fuel underground fuel storage would often leaking dangerous chemicals and lead into our municipal ground waters. They would be huge fire hazard, so much so that the employees would not even pump the fuel into their customers cars, but demand that they pump their own fuel, and at their own risk.

The stations would not make their money from selling the fuel, but most of the profits would come from captive mini markets that would sell equally unhealthy and chemically laised fast food. Slurpies, carcogenic hot dogs, soda, beer, wine, cigarettes, energy drinks. All would be sold at premium prices over normal grocery stores, as they would have a captive audience wanting to kill some time, waiting for their tanks to be filled.

As a convenience they would also offer dirty restrooms often requiring a coin to open the door. They would offer you a key to open the door and attach the key to a heavy and bulky item so you would be sure to return it after use.

Every gas station would set their own prices. Often you would drive around, wasting gas and time, polluting as you go, to find the cheapest station. Then you would feel terrible when you pass a lower cost station just up the road.

All this would cost at least twice as much per mile as your faithful electric car.

Additional services would be required at regular intervals to keep these ICE vehicles operating. Every 5,000 miles you would need to change the lubricating engine oil, as it will have been contaminated by the fuel and metal parts rubbing off the engine internals. A special filter would be fitted to contain most of these metal parts, but it also would need to be changed as well. Be sure to put a little oil on your finger and rub it around the rubber sealing gasket so it will not leak oil all over your garage floor. Also be careful to remove the previously used gasket, because if you put the filter on with double gaskets, it again will leak all over your garage floor. Of course don't forget to replace your drain plug.

You will not be legally able to throw this used oil away, as it has become toxic waste due to being used inside the combustion engine. You will need to take it to a special store (don't spill a drop...quite a mess and impossible to clean out of your carpet).

Your sparking plugs will need to be replaced in regular intervals. Be sure to put a little gasket lub on the threads before installing or they will be impossible to remove when their time comes.

Running all these gas vehicles will cause the city air to become fouled. People will die early and get sick more often from the fumes. Wars will be fought between nations over control of these fuels. Innocent civilians will be killed and economies distroyed. Complex ecosystems will be destroyed from leaking pipelines and transport tanker ships. (Exon Valdez)

Can't imagine the anxiety that all this would cause to those used to running their vehicle on clean, economical electricity.

 

[gavine]

Well-put @Uncle Paul. If electric cars were the norm, and someone came up with the idea of ICE later, he/she would be tarred and feathered. It’s almost laughable.

 

[onlinespending]

Point being, I can go literally anywhere in an ICE car with precisely zero forethought and planning with respect to how I am going to obtain energy for my trip. That doesn't exist in an EV, at least not yet.

That's why "gas anxiety" doesn't exist and isn't a thing. It's pretty simple.

Then you must be one of the few that fills his tank whenever it reaches half empty. Dude. EVERY time I needed to fill up (as in every 1-2 weeks) I got gas anxiety. With an electric car, that NEVER happens as I wake up to a full “tank” everyday

This was a typical scenario of gas driving around town. I’d see that my fuel low warning would light up. I’d have about 30 miles of estimated range left, just enough for the round trip of my commute. But I’d want to fuel up at Costco and save money, so I’d stress about trying to find the time on my way to or from work. But I’d always push it to the limit or forget. And often I’d be driving miles with the estimate at 0. Sometimes I’d go as far as getting just 2 gallons at a more expensive gas station simply because it was convenient and had no choice. Just so I could buy myself time to fill it up at somewhere cheaper. That’s a stressful, anxiety ridden experience that happens pretty much every 1-2 weeks. Something that again never happens with a Tesla.

Not everyone’s habits are the same, so not everyone will reduce their gas anxiety as much as someone like me that pushes the limits of Empty. But ICE drivers still have to be concerned about filling up everytime their tank is near empty. It takes time and is an inconvenience at the very least. With a Tesla, I leave my garage every day with a full “tank”.

 

[bxr140]

I'm talking about range anxiety with a gas powered car.

Nobody is talking about it because it doesn’t exist.

We know electric is the future, and we know there are many detriments to fossil. Trying to be cute by fabricating detriments does all of us a disservice. If you want to evangelize electric, great. For all our sake and the sake of the electric movement itself, please just do so with real topics.

 

[ig_epower]

Nobody is talking about it because it doesn’t exist.

We know electric is the future, and we know there are many detriments to fossil. Trying to be cute by fabricating detriments does all of us a disservice. If you want to evangelize electric, great. For all our sake and the sake of the electric movement itself, please just do so with real topics.

To be fair - I think this IS a real topic. Not about gas range anxiety, but the topic about range anxiety in general. Talking with anyone about EV (if you are not an owner), this concept is always top-of-mind. Sometimes it is hard to convince the non-adopter because they have not considered all the facts about charging overnight. Of course we are assuming that your EV has access to overnight charging which not everyone does - but that is another topic.

The other notion is that the first EV's had/have incredibly short range so the planning and habit-changing of making sure you will make your destination/return trip is real. The Tesla vehicles really changed all that thinking because it offered a decent range. My short answer to people about range anxiety is imagine your own fossil vehicle with 1/2 the gas tank capacity. Could you survive on 1/2 a tank if you got a new 1/2 tank of gas every morning from the "gas fairy" who came in every night and filled your tank while you were asleep? The answer I usually get is "sure - no problem".

 

[onlinespending]

Nobody is talking about it because it doesn’t exist.

We know electric is the future, and we know there are many detriments to fossil. Trying to be cute by fabricating detriments does all of us a disservice. If you want to evangelize electric, great. For all our sake and the sake of the electric movement itself, please just do so with real topics.

Again. Read my post right above yours. It does exist, and exists far more often. The anxiety of having to fill up every time your gas tank approaches E is a common occurrence. And that’s something that’s completely eliminated with electric vehicles and their ability to charge up every night. Long road trips are the exception

 

[GatorGuy]

gain. Read my post right above yours. It does exist, and exists far more often. The anxiety of having to fill up every time your gas tank approaches E is a common occurrence. And that’s something that’s completely eliminated with electric vehicles and their ability to charge up every night. Long road trips are the exception

Evidently not, evidenced by this thread.
Public Charging Etiquette - Unplugging Teslas from J1772s

 

[bxr140]

To be fair - I think this IS a real topic. Not about gas range anxiety, but the topic about range anxiety in general.

You misunderstood; what you're saying is exactly my point. Gas range anxiety doesn't exist but electric range anxiety absolutely does, and there are plenty of honest evangelists trying to dispel the FUD of non adopters. I salute those people.

It does exist, and exists far more often. The anxiety of having to fill up every time your gas tank approaches E is a common occurrence.

No, it is not anxiety. It is at best (as someone said earlier), annoyance. To most, its not even a second thought. People are simply just conditioned to hit the pump when the tank gets low. Its just what they do. Just like we plug our cars in at night without a second thought. We don't have anxiety about doing it, we don't have anxiety about forgetting to do it. We just do it.

With all the legitimate reasons to elevate electric cares over gasoline I'm not sure why you've decided to Fake News "gas range anxiety", but how about you cut your losses on this one and start evangelizing the positive aspects of electric travel instead? The EV community is worse off the more you peddle made up fodder like "gas range anxiety".

 

[David29]

I think it's an unfair question to ask why no one talks about gas anxiety, at least in the u.s. and Canada. The distribution of gasoline is very well-established. So, that is an unfair comparison to the world of electric vehicles, which is new. The distribution of electric vehicle charging is nowhere near as developed as gasoline distribution is, or as developed as electric charging will no doubt be in the future.
A better comparison might be to the early days of diesel automobiles. I was an early adopter of diesel for my car, back in 1967. Then, you got a booklet in your glove compartment when you got the car, and that booklet listed all the diesel fuel stations in the US and Canada. There weren't that many! And in those days, there were no cell phones, there was no internet. So if you were away from the two coasts, you really had to plan ahead if you were going to drive someplace unfamiliar and expect to find diesel fuel. My wife and I did a long cross-country trip and came close to running out two or three times. We had to go out of our way, we had to beg for help from a bus company that had diesel fuel but did not want to sell it to us, and we had to manage our speed to avoid running out when we were at the limits of our tank. So I am very familiar with the range anxiety associated with electric vehicles, because I lived through it with diesels! Another way to look at that, is that I am not as intimidated by the need to plan to find charging for my electric vehicle, because I had the experience of looking for diesel back in the day. It's a lot easier now, with all the information in your navigation system, on the web, and in your smartphone applications.
So, I don't think there's very much anxiety about finding gasoline for most people under most circumstances. But I don't think it's a valid comparison to the electric vehicle situation anyway.

 

[David29]

I think it's an unfair question to ask why no one talks about gas anxiety, at least in the u.s. and Canada. The distribution of gasoline is very well-established. So, that is an unfair comparison to the world of electric vehicles, which is new. The distribution of electric vehicle charging is nowhere near as developed as gasoline distribution is, or as developed as electric charging will no doubt be in the future.
A better comparison might be to the early days of diesel automobiles. I was an early adopter of diesel for my car, back in 1967. Then, you got a booklet in your glove compartment when you got the car, and that booklet listed all the diesel fuel stations in the US and Canada. There weren't that many! And in those days, there were no cell phones, there was no internet. So if you were away from the two coasts, you really had to plan ahead if you were going to drive someplace unfamiliar and expect to find diesel fuel. My wife and I did a long cross-country trip and came close to running out two or three times. We had to go out of our way, we had to beg for help from a bus company that had diesel fuel but did not want to sell it to us, and we had to manage our speed to avoid running out when we were at the limits of our tank. So I am very familiar with the range anxiety associated with electric vehicles, because I lived through it with diesels! Another way to look at that, is that I am not as intimidated by the need to plan to find charging for my electric vehicle, because I had the experience of looking for diesel back in the day. It's a lot easier now, with all the information in your navigation system, on the web, and in your smartphone applications.
So, I don't think there's very much anxiety about finding gasoline for most people under most circumstances. But I don't think it's a valid comparison to the electric vehicle situation anyway.

 

[onlinespending]

You misunderstood; what you're saying is exactly my point. Gas range anxiety doesn't exist but electric range anxiety absolutely does, and there are plenty of honest evangelists trying to dispel the FUD of non adopters. I salute those people.



No, it is not anxiety. It is at best (as someone said earlier), annoyance. To most, its not even a second thought. People are simply just conditioned to hit the pump when the tank gets low. Its just what they do. Just like we plug our cars in at night without a second thought. We don't have anxiety about doing it, we don't have anxiety about forgetting to do it. We just do it.

With all the legitimate reasons to elevate electric cares over gasoline I'm not sure why you've decided to Fake News "gas range anxiety", but how about you cut your losses on this one and start evangelizing the positive aspects of electric travel instead? The EV community is worse off the more you peddle made up fodder like "gas range anxiety".

Hilarious. Not trying to peddle any fodder, silly. Just sharing my personal experience, based on my habits of pushing my gas car to its limits. I’m sure I’m not the only one. Again, read my earlier post about my typical case with having to fill up my tank of gas. It was beyond annoying. It was stressful, and caused anxiety. An electric car eliminates that entirely for 95% of my driving.

 

[ucmndd]

Then you must be one of the few that fills his tank whenever it reaches half empty. Dude. EVERY time I needed to fill up (as in every 1-2 weeks) I got gas anxiety. With an electric car, that NEVER happens as I wake up to a full “tank” everyday

This was a typical scenario of gas driving around town. I’d see that my fuel low warning would light up. I’d have about 30 miles of estimated range left, just enough for the round trip of my commute. But I’d want to fuel up at Costco and save money, so I’d stress about trying to find the time on my way to or from work. But I’d always push it to the limit or forget. And often I’d be driving miles with the estimate at 0. Sometimes I’d go as far as getting just 2 gallons at a more expensive gas station simply because it was convenient and had no choice..

I think you're confusing inconvenience and self-induced stress about needing to buy the cheapest gas with "anxiety".

There's no reason to be anxious about where you'll be able to purchase fuel for a gas-powered automobile at a moment's notice. Basically ever. The comparison is baseless and IMO completely unlikely to convince anyone hung up on EV range anxiety.

 

[Saghost]

I think the reason we're not supposed to have gas range anxiety is that there are supposed to be gas stations on every corner and it's only supposed to take a few minutes to fill up. That's true in some places.

The worst range anxiety I ever had was in a gas pickup, though - back in the days before ubiquitous cell GPS and smartphones. Driving through rural Utah at 3 AM on a Sunday morning trying to find a gas station that's actually open is thoroughly nerve-wracking - especially since a 1984 Chevrolet pickup doesn't give you any idea of the remaining range, just one big analog gauge.

 

[bxr140]

Just sharing my personal experience...

Look, I get that its a bit embarrassing when you try to make up a story for a 'friendly' audience on the internet and it backfires, but honestly nobody cares that you got your hand caught in the Alex Jones cookie jar. You don't need to backpedal, just let it go. There's no possible way you or anyone actually believes that gas range anxiety is a problem worth talking about, especially in 2018 and especially relative to EVs in 2018.

Your original post was simply a terrible attempt at illustrating how EV range anxiety is a [non] problem that many people can easily overcome.

Its ok.

 

[McRat]

1) Some EREV owners get self-inflicted 'gas anxiety'. They don't want to ever run on gas, so they stretch out the tank months at a time.
2) Yes, when towing heavy you can get range anxiety. Especially at night in West Texas with a headwind.

 

[wdolson]

Whether you call it anxiety or not, there is some stress with an ICE when you get in the car to go somewhere, you're running late as it is, and you realize the tank is almost empty. You need to stop and get gas, making you later than you were.

Where we live, we get intense, cold winds every winter. Doing anything outside when those winds are blowing is painful. I've had to gas up in those winds and I don't miss it.

I was a kid through the gas crisis of the 70s and my parents were friends with a gas station owner who only sold his gas to his maintenance customers, so we never really worried about running out. But the news was full of stories of long lines for gas, gas rationing, and we knew people who were stressing about the shortages. With gasoline, you are tied to an international commodity that has not had a serious supply problem in the US in 40 years, but international politics could cause shortages at some point.

With an electric car, you are using domestically produced energy that is either free from the sun if you have a solar setup, or has a highly regulated price from the utility. I pay $0.08/KWH, if that's going to change, I have at least a month, probably a few months warning. With gasoline, it could cost $1 more per gallon tomorrow. For people on a tight budget, that can cause anxiety.

There are anxieties about fueling ICE, but they are so widely shared, most people don't think about them or at least don't talk about them. They're still there though. The anxieties don't stop with needing to get fuel. They also include anxiety when you know the belts or hoses are beginning to go and you don't have the funds and/or the time to take the car in. There is also anxiety about other maintenance issues with ICE that you don't need with an EV. ICE have a lot more parts and fluids that wear out every x thousand miles. There is a massive industry supporting those needs and it's so common, few people think about it much.

When you get an electric with a decent range, you do start realizing how much of your life revolved around maintaining your car. It wasn't an every day thing, but it does take more time and effort than an EV.

 

[onlinespending]

Look, I get that its a bit embarrassing when you try to make up a story for a 'friendly' audience on the internet and it backfires, but honestly nobody cares that you got your hand caught in the Alex Jones cookie jar. You don't need to backpedal, just let it go. There's no possible way you or anyone actually believes that gas range anxiety is a problem worth talking about, especially in 2018 and especially relative to EVs in 2018.

Your original post was simply a terrible attempt at illustrating how EV range anxiety is a [non] problem that many people can easily overcome.

Its ok.

Are you ok? Having a bad day? I understand that you don’t experience the same thing, but that’s all you had to say. No reason to attack me personally or discredit my own experiences as an ICE driver. I never talked poorly of ICE drivers or talked in sweeping generalizations like yourself (“gas anxiety doesn’t exist”). Well it exists for me and quite frequently, given my driving and fueling habits. Electric car ownership has been far less stressful and bothersome

 

[bxr140]

Whether you call it anxiety or not, there is some stress with an ICE when you get in the car to go somewhere, you're running late as it is, and you realize the tank is almost empty. You need to stop and get gas, making you later than you were.

Its important that we not conflate anxiety with annoyance.

Range anxiety is only a topic for non-EV drivers and EV noobs--all the rest of us have already gotten over range anxiety, so this entire thread is a waste of bandwidth. In any case, what's really important is being able to communicate to that audience in an understandable and non-threatening manner...to them. Even the term 'range anxiety' is new to many of them; trying to correlate that fear into an equivalent ICE emotion will leave them--at best--confused. Just as likely, they shut down and ignore you because you're some tree-hugger anti-ICE nut.

The fastest way to EV adoption is evangelizing positive aspects of EV ownership, not belittling via the negative aspects of ICE ownership.

 

[Ofarlig]

Gas anxiety should not exist, there are petrol stations everywhere to the point most people can start their car and see 0 range and still not worry about reaching the station 2 km away.thry also get a warning of 50 km range left so they can fill up before, and that is actual 50 km range.

Electric is getting there but not quite yet, the problem with electric is you might need to spend some time charging as you might only find 3.7 kW chargers really close. That time is what is creating the anxiety for electric cars, in a gas car you might be 10 minutes late if you did not plan at all but in the electric car it can be hours.