Tesla Motors recently announced measures to look after the problem of range anxiety faced by drivers, but all its efforts to eliminate the issue have come to nothing, Tony Posawatz, who introduced the Chevy Volt and guided General Motors into electrification, told Benzinga. Posawatz is also credited for the term “range anxiety,” which he coined in late 2006.
Drivers need more range and faster-charging stations
Range anxiety is something consumers cope with due to insufficient range allowance, to “do what they need to do to accommodate their everyday life and the spontaneous things that happen,” claimed Posawatz. He added that drivers need to be, either, provided with more range or the facility to recharge their vehicles more often and in less time than usual.
The former GM executive told Benzinga that there should be plenty of charging stations for electric cars and that it should not take more than a few minutes to refuel them in order to make EVs similar to their fuel-operated counterparts. And Tesla Motors’ recent announcement “didn’t really provide either of those,” Posawatz said.
Tesla has just “managed” range anxiety
Tesla’s efforts have been appreciated by some analysts and Posawatz himself, who called the update a “good technological advancement” as it augments connected car features and enables drivers to recover data from their automobile to improve the vehicle’s efficiency. But the former GM executive claimed that by providing continual updates and building more of the faster-charging superchargers, the EV car maker has just aided in managing range anxiety rather than completely eliminating it.
However, according to some, Tesla has done enough to check range anxiety with the software update. This is in line with the comments of CEO Elon Musk, who stated that most Model S owners are not prone to range anxiety. The reason for this was claimed to be the huge battery integrated with the Model S along with a sufficient minimum range of 200 miles that comes with it. And now, the software update has made it almost impossible for drivers to run out of juice. Nevertheless, Posawatz feels that more efforts by Tesla are needed to avoid the range anxiety associated with electric cars.
“Both a plus and a minus, but not fundamentally a significant resolution to range anxiety with electric vehicles,” said Posawatz.
