Range anxiety hit hard when I took a Fiat 500e on a 200-mile round trip

I had to keep to 60mph otherwise the already dismal range would drop even further.

BHPian alphahere recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

In the UK I tried driving a Fiat 500e for a round trip from home to Manchester totalling 200 miles. It was quite tiring for me in fact much more than driving an ICE car. I had to keep to 60mph otherwise the already dismal range would drop even further. The car had a max claimed range of only 115 miles. It was just a trial to see if an EV would work for me.

On the way as the range dropped to 50%, I stopped at a village parking lot to top up the battery. The fear of the unknown made me decide to be extra cautious. But the charge speed was slow and I managed to top up only 10% in an hour or so and it was dirt cheap as well. But I thought I had enough juice and more to get me to Manchester as per maps. What I did not account for was the fact that I may miss an exit which I unfortunately did and it rerouted me over some mountainous terrain instead of the motorway. I think the mountainous terrain was better than the motorway overall in terms of efficiency but was quite longer than the motorway. I had switched off the aircon by now. Anxiety started kicking in. What if I run out of juice in the middle of nowhere? Instead of enjoying the drive I started range-watching and hypermiling. Reached the destination with less than 15% SOC and found a DC charger. This topped up the battery to 95% in about 40 minutes. But man. It was much more expensive than the slow-charge machine. On the way back I reached without any other breaks but I got a feel of the car. 50mph was its sweet spot in terms of efficiency. Kept to this speed towards the later part of the journey as the charge started depleting and I covered the 100 miles back with no stops and reached back in single-digit SOC. Anything above 60mph is a no-no and the charge drops faster than a stone in water. The anxiety factor was much lesser on the return journey maybe because my mind felt that we were coming from unfamiliar territory back to a familiar place which wasn’t the case on the onward journey.

The car had single-pedal driving and it was quite aggressive at putting the charge back in especially in the mountainous roads. I think an EV is a good option if one’s usage pattern supports it. Moving to an EV just because the world does may not be a wise decision. I am watching this space closely with the Nexon. ev LR on my radar for my parents back home and I am expecting to receive my Volvo EX30 twin motor in the UK early next year. Thankfully this vehicle has a respectable claimed range of 300 miles. Should be able to eke out at least 250 miles in normal driving. Both of these will coexist with an ICE car for the time being.

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