And the distance from Cincinnati to Indianapolis is about 120 miles. Everything should’ve worked out fine. Except that it didn’t and by the time my three-day trip to Indy was over I was faced with . . . range anxiety!
Let’s explain the plot of this snoozer further.
I stayed at a major chain hotel in Indianapolis which had exactly zero charging stations. That is unfortunately common here in the Midwest. No big deal. According to the Charge Point app, I was surrounded by charging stations. So I just waited to “refill” until the end of my trip. I still had plenty of range anyway.
The Volvo XC40 was so enjoyable to drive, I used it to run errands and to drive colleagues around Indianapolis. Each passenger found the XC40 comfortable and found the EV technology interesting.
Each trip took miles off the range. It was also hot outside, so we wanted to run the air conditioning. Off comes more range. Suddenly my trip is over and I’m ready to head back to Cincinnati, and the 110 mile trip and I’ve got exactly 24 miles of range.
I’m not one to take gas-powered vehicles below the line and “ride the E”. So having only 24 miles of electric range generated . . . range anxiety!
The Charge Point app and the internal system in the Volvo guided me to a charge station that was only nine miles away. Woohoo! No big deal then. By the way I drove past a dozen gas stations on my way to the charge stations. I get to the charge station only to find neither station was working. Oh boy!
Knowing that I’m near the Indianapolis airport where there are nearly 100 charge stations (according to the app) I make my way there as it was only a few miles away. I have to pay $2 to enter the parking garage where the charge stations are. I curl up the parking garage to the levels where the charging stations are and find them with about 12 miles of range left. Imagine my horror when each and every single charge station was occupied by Teslas hooked up. Each Tesla not occupied by a passenger. The Tesla drivers clearly plugged in, hopped on a flight and will find their Tesla fully charged and ready to go. This leaves me without a place to charge and I’ve wasted $2 and now have an extreme case of . . . range anxiety! See how this seemingly boring movie has become a horror?
A suggestion from a very helpful EV Lyft driver took me to of all places a Walmart Supercenter. The journey from the airport to the Supercenter was about 10 miles meaning I was pulling into this parking lot and the open charge stations on “electric fumes.” If this station didn’t work, I would’ve been stranded.
Thankfully the charge station worked and the Volvo XC40 actually charged up pretty quickly in like 40 minutes. And therein lies the other “knock” on EVs – the charge times (no exclamation point needed).
Refueling an internal combustion vehicle takes just a few minutes. Recharging an EV takes a lot of time and is not convenient in situations like this.
Before I take heat from the all the EV fans out there, if you own an EV, yes, you have a charging station in your house and can “recharge” it to full overnight.
However in situations like mine driving a very good EV that has merit between two major cities, it should’ve been easy. There shouldn’t have been the range anxiety that existed. It’s through no fault of Volvo or any EV manufacturer but more about how in the Midwest, we aren’t ready for the EV revolution.
If this was a movie, then any other EV I get to drive in the same scenario would have a sequel. Range Anxiety: The Sequel, until the EV infrastructure gets addressed.
Jimmy Dinsmore is a freelance journalist and author of the DRIVER’S SIDE column.
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