AATISH MISHRA

Aatish has a few tips on how to deal with range anxiety

IF YOU HAVEN’T ALREADY, YOU WILL BE swinging a leg over or climbing into an electric vehicle in the near future. I know, I know, you’re an enthusiast and you don’t want to. But take your tantrums elsewhere. EVs are the future, whether you like it or not. And credit where credit is due, they’re actually competent in urban conditions. They may not be able to hold their own as a one-car/bike-garage, but as a secondary city runabout? Can’t ignore ’em. And you know what else is hard to ignore? The crippling range anxiety that comes with them. This anxiety is real, and there’s no running away from it when you are in an EV. But like with my crippling (regular) anxiety, I have devised a few strategies to keep it well under control!

Trust the range readouts: These cars and bikes are incredibly accurate when it comes to knowing how far they will go, with how much juice they have left. Most of them readjust their range once they get a sense of your riding or driving style. So if your scooter is throwing up 10km on the range readout and home is 7km away, don’t fret too much. The scoot will get you home, as long as you’re not an absolute moron with the accelerator.

Plan, plan and plan: It may be tedious, but plan your trips to the tee. Whether it is a run through the city on your iQube or an inter-city run on the e-tron, make sure you know exactly how many kilometres you will cover and how you plan on covering them. How does this help? The fact that you have a game plan, means when range starts dipping, you won’t panic because you’ll know exactly what lies ahead.

Room for error: Leave 10 per cent of the total range as an emergency reserve when you make those plans. This may make EVs feel a bit constricting at first but with improving infrastructure, things will improve.

Use the more efficient mode: I don’t recommend you do this all the time but should you need to make a reasonably long journey by the standards of your EV, use the Eco mode. It generally murders performance: top speeds get shaved, acceleration gets dulled down, having any sort of fun is out of the question but the flip side is you can do more kilometres on a single charge. Those extra kilometres on the range readout go a long way in suppressing range anxiety.

Maximise regeneration: One of the most ingenious bits about EVs is the fact that they can regenerate energy under deceleration. To maximise regen, you have to minimise your use of the brakes and rely more on the motors slowing the car down. You obviously don’t slow down as fast as you would with the brakes, so that means you have to learn to read the traffic and anticipate when to lift off the accelerator. Over time, you do get used to the level of regen in your EV, and consequently get better at judging when to lift off. Pro tip: Keep your right foot hovering above the brake pedal when it’s not on the accelerator in case you need to panic brake.

Know your network: Map the public charging infrastructure in your city. If you have a buddy with an EV, ask them if you can use their charging spot in an emergency. Get an app that locates chargers — the Tata Power EZ Charge app is one of the many that are available right now. Knowing a charger is always within reach helps immensely.

Get more aerodynamic: Drag chews into range like few other things do. So, the most efficient way to travel is (this holds true only for bikes) when tucked into a race crouch. This will reduce the frontal area, and should increase the coefficient of drag of the scooter or motorcycle and maximise range.

I was kidding. Don’t do that. You’ll look like an idiot riding around at 40kmph in Eco mode while getting gapped by a rickshaw. Just ride like you normally would.

Relax: What’s the worst that will happen if you run out of range? You’ll probably be stuck at the side of the road for a bit. We ran a Kona Electric out of charge intentionally to see what would happen and RSA showed up within an hour. Bigger cities have mobile gen sets that can come to you to juice you up for a few kilometres. Worst case scenario is you’ll need a tow. It’s not the end of the world, so don’t fret! ⌧

The fact that you have a game

plan to stick to means when range starts dipping, you

won’t panic