Every year, more and more drivers make the switch from gas-powered vehicles to electric ones. Yet, while electric cars have gained popularity with some, many others are still worried about going green. Their main concern? Driving range and battery capacity. Understandably, people want to be sure that their new electric vehicle won’t run out of power during commutes and leave them stranded. If you are on the fence about getting an electric car and want to make sure it can go the distance, check out these quick tips for calculating how much range you’ll need.
How Much Ground Do You Cover Each Day?
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An effective means of determining your electric car’s ideal battery capacity is to estimate your daily or monthly mileage. The easiest way to do this is to hop on Google Maps and input info for your home and work. It will show you the precise distance between your destinations, and from there you just need to do some quick math. Let’s say you drive to work five days a week. Take the distance between your house and workplace, then double it to see your daily mileage. Then, multiply that sum by five to see your weekly mileage. So, for example, if your commute is 10 miles one way, then your average weekly mileage is 100 miles.
For a rough estimate, you could also look up the average distance for daily commutes in your area. Even though the data varies from place to place, stats show that most commutes add up to an average of 40 miles per day. At that rate, a lower-capacity electric car would give you a solid two days’ worth of driving.
Is There A Charger Nearby?
When it comes to getting efficient range out of an electric vehicle, access to charging stations is more important than the car’s battery capacity. So, in addition to your mileage, think about how often you’d like to charge the car. If you do not have a charging station in your home, then you will need to figure out how many are in your area and how often you can plug your car in. If you do have your own charging station, then you can just plug in your car as often as you’d like or make it part of your nightly routine.
Frequent charging lowers the range requirements for your electric car. So regardless of the vehicle’s battery capacity, if you can get to a charging station once every day or two, you will have more than enough juice to reach your destinations.
