title: Range Anxiety Anxiety vs. Actual Electric Car Convenience. Most people still don’t understand how convenient it is to have an EV, how much more convenient it is than going to the gas station every week or two. "I just take two seconds to plug in at home and by morning I have a full battery again."
author: u/mafco
contenttype: redditpost
publication: r/energy
published: 2026-02-28T16:56:01+00:00
sourceurl: https://www.reddit.com/r/energy/comments/1rh7mmt/rangeanxietyanxietyvsactualelectric_car/
word_count: 286
Link: https://cleantechnica.com/2026/02/27/range-anxiety-anxiety-vs-actual-electric-car-convenience/
Score: 207 | Comments: 159 | Subreddit: r/energy
Top Comments
u/Big-Dudu-77 (10 pts):
That’s true if you live in a house. Not true for many renters who live in apartment complexes.
u/Adventurous-Depth984 (6 pts):
If you think about the number of times you’ve ever driven all of the fuel out of your car in one sitting, which for many people is none, only those trips require any thought whatsoever.
u/IllSomewhere3693 (5 pts):
If you have home charging, or can get it, it’s a no brain issue… u can get a decent EV used for much less than an ICE comparable model, & the savings just keep flooding in after that. For a long road trip, just about every EV now can use Tesla’s superchargers, plus with the others, it’s more than doable now.
u/General_Problem5199 (5 pts):
Not to mention the minimal amount of maintenance it needs. I've been driving the same EV for seven years, and it's never needed any serious work. The tires need to be replaced a little more frequently, but otherwise I've only needed to do the yearly battery check.
u/slappyStove (9 pts):
i am baffled by this - the average american auto commute is something like 14 miles each way. everybody thinks they regularly drive the entirety of route 66
u/ottwebdev (6 pts):
Its very convenient, and my wife who drives the ev when getting into my ICE is like “whats wrong with the car?!” - just regular engine revving and shift changes lol
BUT we got to experience an ev in -30 to -40C weather… and range was down by like 30-50%
u/markv1182 (13 pts):
I know a lot of people who complained and doubted about EV's before they made the switch. I know absolutely no-one who is considering switching back.
u/cez801 (8 pts):
It’s about circumstances. I have an EV, range 350kms.
When we got it, home charging was an option - in that case it was awesome, zero hassle. We rarely need to travel in a single day anywhere near the max range.
We just plugged the car in, over night, it was a habit and zero hassle.
Honestly, home charging, and day range below max range and an ev are way better than a pertrol car.
But those circumstances are different for other people.
Having an apartment, or some other circumstance which prevents home charging is definitely a lot more annoying. We have moved into a new place, and can’t charge at home.
The odd long road trip is fine, but needing to go to charging stations in the city is a complete pain.
Like I said, EVs are way better than petrol or way worse. Depending on your personal living conditions.
u/deck_hand (5 pts):
I’ve been tell people this for 13 years now. Doesn’t seem to sink in.
u/VegaGT-VZ (12 pts):
Article is tone deaf and kind of annoying. If you can't charge at home EVs are way less convenient than gas, full stop. I say this as someone who has an EV + home charger and loves it.
EV advocates are not going to win people over by telling them their concerns aren't real. Very smug and dismissive.
u/md_youdneverguess (14 pts):
One very convenient thing is that you don't have to worry about the Strait of Hormuz being closed
u/LastEntertainment684 (9 pts):
Having lived with a 320 mile EPA rated range EV for four years now, even doing 600+ mile road trips in the dead of winter, I haven’t found myself really wanting much more range.
Maybe a bit less of a cold weather range hit, but technology has already improved there in 4 years.
Literally the only time range has really been an actual issue, has been long distance towing.
That being said, the biggest thing holding back adoption right now is infrastructure.
Every highway rest stop needs to have reliable and simple to operate 300+kw DC Fast Charging with posted pricing.
Cities and suburbs (without single family garages) need accessible and inexpensive overnight charging options where they park.
All this infrastructure needs to be visible so people know it exists and are comfortable using it.
We’ll get there, but it takes time and investment.
u/furiouschads (6 pts):
I think about this every time I pass by the Costco gas lines in my Ioniq 5 EV.
u/FriendlyEngineer (6 pts):
I’ve had an EV for several years, and moved areas since getting one. I realized as I passed by the many gas stations in the new neighborhood that I hadn’t needed to stop at them once, didn’t care what price was displayed, and didn’t have to smell gas fumes every two weeks. Love it.
Now for road trips the charging infrastructure isn’t as ubiquitous as gas stations, and sometimes it is frustrating when fast chargers are broken, but with some planning it is feasible for sure. And that will only get better over time. Oh, and my EV does not have crazy range or super fast DC charging (I’m limited to 50 kW) so newer vehicles are even easier to manage.
u/InterestingDingo88 (8 pts):
"But what if I need to drive to a remote part of North Dakota once a year??"
We were legitimately behind the curve on public charging infrastructure for a long time, and still are in many areas, but it gets better every day.
A lot of people are realizing they don't need an EV with 800 miles of range, just like how people who move every year don't daily-drive a box truck "just in case".