Running out of electricity.
Discussion
New to an EV and I am not going to do it . We do local and short journeys in the EV and that's what we bought it for.
Appreciate many use these vehicles every day , long journeys and big batteries.
But has anyone actually run out . Stopped.
What did you do . How do you get going again.
I have never run out of petrol. I have come so close the car was cutting out . But I made the garage. I also helped another driver once with a return trip to a garage and a new Jerry can.
Any EV tales to tell ? My pall told me he had slow speed and a charge immediately on a rental car in the US . He did make it to a fast charger.
Appreciate many use these vehicles every day , long journeys and big batteries.
But has anyone actually run out . Stopped.
What did you do . How do you get going again.
I have never run out of petrol. I have come so close the car was cutting out . But I made the garage. I also helped another driver once with a return trip to a garage and a new Jerry can.
Any EV tales to tell ? My pall told me he had slow speed and a charge immediately on a rental car in the US . He did make it to a fast charger.
You could ask Scott Mills. https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/t...
You plan your journeys and give yourself backup options.
Doing a 400 mile round trip in a car with a 250 mile range? You charge up after 150 miles, but if that charger isn't working you charge up 50 miles later etc...
I think what I'm trying to say is that you always make sure you have enough to charge to have almost zero chance of running out.
Doing a 400 mile round trip in a car with a 250 mile range? You charge up after 150 miles, but if that charger isn't working you charge up 50 miles later etc...
I think what I'm trying to say is that you always make sure you have enough to charge to have almost zero chance of running out.
Never ran out, never got close (in reality). I assume most EVs use real-time weather and traffic information to predict the remaining charge at the destination or the next charger. So you have a couple of hours/hundred+ miles to figure out whether you need to charge (unless you let the car determine this automatically).
If you actually run out (after driving past tens of chargers and ignoring increasingly urgent warnings), your breakdown cover should transport your car to the nearest suitable charger (the Swiss Automobile Club does this). You can also recharge the car - very slowly - from pretty much any standard socket, including one in another EV with the V2L capability. Slower than siphoning fuel from another car, but less likely to require hospitalisation.
Slowing down will also increase range a lot. In most EVs, cruising at 45-50 mph will almost double the range compared to 75-80 mph.
If you actually run out (after driving past tens of chargers and ignoring increasingly urgent warnings), your breakdown cover should transport your car to the nearest suitable charger (the Swiss Automobile Club does this). You can also recharge the car - very slowly - from pretty much any standard socket, including one in another EV with the V2L capability. Slower than siphoning fuel from another car, but less likely to require hospitalisation.
Slowing down will also increase range a lot. In most EVs, cruising at 45-50 mph will almost double the range compared to 75-80 mph.
I saw an early Leaf (very poor range) arrive at a charging station on the back of a recovery truck. Owner had made the journey successfully before but this time it was Christmas Eve and cold .....
My car insurance (Admiral) includes free recovery if I run out of charge. Jag and VW assist both include the same. I haven't bothered to check my regular breakdown insurance but I imagine most would recover you to a charging station.
That said, you would have to be either foolish or very unlucky to run out of charge in a modern EV.
My car insurance (Admiral) includes free recovery if I run out of charge. Jag and VW assist both include the same. I haven't bothered to check my regular breakdown insurance but I imagine most would recover you to a charging station.
That said, you would have to be either foolish or very unlucky to run out of charge in a modern EV.
speedking31 said:
You could ask Scott Mills. https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/t...
One would assume that five hours would be enough time to Google the location and use of the emergency door release. 
In most EVs, five hours would have been 10 minutes, including some Google searches for details (pull the mechanical door handle, pop the frunk lid open, connect the booster battery, start, disconnect the booster and drive off).
I've got home in my Honda eNy1 on 2% several times in the last 2 years and 1% twice. The last time though (6 days ago), I parked rear inwards to unload the car after a break in Devon. Maybe leaving it 1 hour before attempting to turn it round was a bad idea (cooling battery), but it went into 1 mpg limp mode when I moved it and then ground to a halt at the bottom of the drive (10 yds covered). Putting it into D (it was still displaying 1% charge remaining), it would go straight back to P 
Fortunately, I had about 12m worth of extension leads to enable me to plug it into the mains (I only use a 3 pin plug). And the neighbours were out, I was blocking their drive! After 15 mins I tried again and managed to turn the car around (so about 0.5 kWh put in) to be closer to the charging lead as normal (now displaying 2 miles of range but still 1%).
i saw a Carwow video on Youtube where they deliberately ran 5 (I think?) EVs until they ran out. They all kept going past 0%, the Hyundai Inster doing over 11 miles. My Honda never even got to 0% before it juddered to a stop, not happy. I won't risk running it so low in future, even though it's only 8.5p per kWh at night at home.
Fortunately, I had about 12m worth of extension leads to enable me to plug it into the mains (I only use a 3 pin plug). And the neighbours were out, I was blocking their drive! After 15 mins I tried again and managed to turn the car around (so about 0.5 kWh put in) to be closer to the charging lead as normal (now displaying 2 miles of range but still 1%).
i saw a Carwow video on Youtube where they deliberately ran 5 (I think?) EVs until they ran out. They all kept going past 0%, the Hyundai Inster doing over 11 miles. My Honda never even got to 0% before it juddered to a stop, not happy. I won't risk running it so low in future, even though it's only 8.5p per kWh at night at home.
I’ve got as far down as 1 mile range left, which is quite alarming, a couple of times. Particularly in winter, on a cold dark night the 90 mile range showing at Dundee doesn’t last, and there isn’t a charger on my route home. Lessons learnt.
If you do break down then it’s a RAC van with a big battery in the back to give you enough juice to get to a charger - probably a long wait for ignominy.
If you do break down then it’s a RAC van with a big battery in the back to give you enough juice to get to a charger - probably a long wait for ignominy.
Joining the majority with a No here. Have got home on 4% remaining (~8 miles range) once.
Once got stuck in a tailback on the M25 which I assumed was the usual approaching-Dartford queues but turned out to be a stationary Zoe being recovered from lane 1. I don't know that it ran out of charge, but it seems the most likely explanation given they're generally reliable.
Iv ran my current EV down to about 6% but I was fine with that as I knew id get to a charger. It does sound like however if an EV gets to zero a charge will get them going again.
Before this car I owned a self charging Hybrid. I read somewhere that if you depleted the battery in that, ie ran out of fuel and ran the battery for a mile or 2 until dead then its a completely different story. Now this may be rubbish its only what I read but for this particular car the Manufacturer dealers only have 2 chargers available nation wide the get the self charging hybrid going again. Thankfully i never found out.
Before this car I owned a self charging Hybrid. I read somewhere that if you depleted the battery in that, ie ran out of fuel and ran the battery for a mile or 2 until dead then its a completely different story. Now this may be rubbish its only what I read but for this particular car the Manufacturer dealers only have 2 chargers available nation wide the get the self charging hybrid going again. Thankfully i never found out.
I actually enjoy playing this game. I've basically run dry in all my vehicles I've owned pushing the limit.
In the EV, I've arrived home at 1% and 0%, but you'd really have to be a blithering idiot (like me) to drop without a charge in a Tesla. The thing gives me so many warnings when playing these games. Things like:
"Find a charger soon."
"If you don't go to this charger now, you'll be out of reach of all known chargers."
"You are now out of range of all known chargers. Good luck."
In the EV, I've arrived home at 1% and 0%, but you'd really have to be a blithering idiot (like me) to drop without a charge in a Tesla. The thing gives me so many warnings when playing these games. Things like:
"Find a charger soon."
"If you don't go to this charger now, you'll be out of reach of all known chargers."
"You are now out of range of all known chargers. Good luck."
Twice in my old iPace I hit 0% and was able to crawl a couple of miles back to my house. I did it semi on purpose as I just couldn't be bothered to charge, I new from tests on YT the car would limp home, and my insurance includes dead battery recovery/mobile recharge in any case.
As for what happens if the car does die... The same roadside assistance companies that would bring a few litres of petrol to get an ICE car going again, now sometimes carry mobile chargers capable of adding enough range to get an EV to the nearest public charger. If not they'll tow it or pass it onto a recovery truck.
Many insurers now offer EV specific policies that include cover for this eventuality - although you'd have to be really stupid to actually run out in the middle of nowhere. It's not like missing a petrol warning light come on, because in an EV when it gets down to ~10% charge you can feel it start to slow down dramatically. You can't not notice it. In most EV's that 10% is going to carry you at least 20 miles plus whatever safety net at a crawl, probably another 10 miles. You'd have to be bumbling around the Scottish Highlands and completely disorganised to get to that point and not be within 30 miles of a public charger.
As for what happens if the car does die... The same roadside assistance companies that would bring a few litres of petrol to get an ICE car going again, now sometimes carry mobile chargers capable of adding enough range to get an EV to the nearest public charger. If not they'll tow it or pass it onto a recovery truck.
Many insurers now offer EV specific policies that include cover for this eventuality - although you'd have to be really stupid to actually run out in the middle of nowhere. It's not like missing a petrol warning light come on, because in an EV when it gets down to ~10% charge you can feel it start to slow down dramatically. You can't not notice it. In most EV's that 10% is going to carry you at least 20 miles plus whatever safety net at a crawl, probably another 10 miles. You'd have to be bumbling around the Scottish Highlands and completely disorganised to get to that point and not be within 30 miles of a public charger.
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