The one thing electric vehicle owners worry about is on the rise. According to AA and RAC, emergency calls in the UK over dead EVs have spiked. This will surely confirm the fear of range anxiety EV makers are trying to downplay, and feverishly trying to improve. Adding to the problem is that electric car offerings can’t be towed. They need all four wheels to be off the ground. 

Obviously, dead electric vehicles causes congestion and at times collisions

It is becoming such a problem that RAC just came out with a mobile charger for a quick boost to help drivers make it to the next charging station. The problem intensifies if the vehicle poops out in traffic. Obviously, it causes congestion and at times collisions. And it can only get worse as the UK has banned gas-powered vehicle sales by 2030. 

Running out of gas would seem to be as common as running out of a charge but it is not. The UK’s AA says emergency calls for empty gas tanks is only .6% of total calls. Dead EV calls are now 4% of all calls and are rising. But the reasons for cars lacking enough juice might surprise you.

RAC says that the most common reason for getting an emergency call for a dead EV is because a charge center is out of service. But there are over 35,000 charge points in the US. About 8,000 of them are rapid chargers that can charge a car in under a one-half hour. 

The second most common reason is that the home charger malfunctioned

The second most common reason is that the home charger malfunctioned or failed to charge the car overnight. In this case, the owners try to get to work or another destination where a charger exists but they don’t make it. So neither of the top two reasons has anything to do with cheating the range. 

The instances of dead electric vehicles will increase as EV use goes up. But also, some of the earlier EVs only were able to eke out 80-100 miles per charge. As those EVs age out and those with longer ranges proliferate it is hoped that dead EVs will go down. The limit threshold for most all new EVs is 300 miles. That correlates to the approximate distance one could travel on a tank of gas. 

For the US total EV purchases is only 2.5%

In the UK EV usage is 21% of total vehicles sold. For the US that number is 2.5%. There is a definite aversion to EVs in the US. One of the problems stymieing sales is range anxiety along with EVs being unfamiliar. But those who have jumped into the EV pool are mostly enthusiastic about the advantages of electric car usage.

There is a gang of EVs coming to the market over the next two years. That, combined with minimum ranges of 300 miles means we’ll be seeing more. Greater range means fewer problems for first-time users. Just make sure you have an AAA membership just in case.