Amusingly, it’s the same term that I remember hearing applied to our Nissan Leaf’s range estimate when we bought that in 2015. I wonder how far it goes back.
Is that current advice? My quick research suggests that modern battery management systems don’t need this anymore, unless you’re seeing range estimates that are significantly off (at which point a 100% charge recalibrates things).
Some quick web searching seems to indicate that the term predates EVs and has been used to refer to range-estimates presented by gas and diesel vehicles.
FWIW, my 2012 Honda Civic has a range estimate. Its accuracy varies, since it is based on the MPG measured since I last reset the counter (which automatically happens after each fill-up).
I have on occasion driven past when that estimate dropped to zero, to find that there was nearly two gallons left in the tank (by subtracting the amount needed to fill it from the tank size). I assume Honda builds in a safety margin to the estimate so you don’t actually run out of gas when it hits zero. But I’ve never personally heard anyone call it a “guessometer” (or “guess-o-meter”) until today.
OED has nothing, so fairly recent.
Hi Adam.
I very much enjoyed your story about your first extended EV trip. I have a 2017 Tesla Model S with a 75 kW battery. My wife and I just finished an approximately 3000 mile trip through the western states. When I purchased my car new back in 2017, Tesla offered lifetime supercharging for free. This made taking the Tesla a no brainer on this trip. I subscribed to the premium version of ABRP, which did an amazing job figuring out the most efficient stops for our trip. As you mentioned, charging really slows down as you approach 80+% charge. ABRP’s optimized charging tends to have one run down the charge to around 10-15% before charging and has one only charge to around 70-75%. This ends up being quite a bit faster than charging to near full, even with the more frequent stops.
While chargers are sometimes more widely spaced in the less populated areas of the west, like the stretch between Las Vegas and Phoenix or Reno and southern Oregon, we never had any range anxiety. We exclusively used the Tesla network of chargers. We never had to wait to charge even in larger cities.
All in all, we had a great trip, saw parts of the country we hadn’t seen before, and actually enjoyed the more frequent stops as it gave us a chance to walk around for a bit and stretch some stiff muscles. Thanks to the free supercharging, it was probably the least expensive road trip I have ever taken. And it was fun spending some of Elon’s money!
Norm (Michael C’s brother)
Maybe back in the 1930s & 40s but by the mid 50s they were ubiquitous. The only time I remember a dearth of stations was on I-5 in 72 or 73 between Stockton, CA and the southern junction with CA Rte 99. The section was newly opened and while there were gas pumps, the building were either trailers, under construction, or both. However there ARE Interstates and US Highways with long stretches between fuel stops (sometimes up to 100 miles), but they are well signed.
Hopefully charging stations will be built at all the current fueling stations along these routes and in 20 years long EV trips will be almost as easy as in ICE vehicles.
I’m right there with you. On road trips we drive 400+ miles per day and gas up once during the drive. It takes 2 min that we also use for a restroom break. There is no way I will sit around for 30 min or multiple stops or be forced to use apps (or consult a thread with dozens of posts LOL!) or better yet, have to choose where I eat based on which type of charger is installed where, then wonder if when I get there it’ll work or if 10 others will already be in line. Heck, the fact that such a trip would even lead people to write so many words on something that otherwise is trivial, takes 2 min and can be done pretty much anywhere with zero effort tells me all I need to know.
Our current ~48 mpg Prius will be replaced when it’s finally truly dead (12 years, 120k miles right now) with a plug-in. That will let me do my local driving all electric (charging over night) and I still get to enjoy a road trip as a road trip rather than as a giant exercise in fidgeting with tech and gizmos.
I’d be interested in H2 fuel cells with quicker refill, reduced reliance on battery optimal conditions (not hot, certainly not cold, no AC or heat running in vehicle, battery always pre-conditioned and all that other gymnastics) and longer range, if it ever got adopted to a point where you could get H2 anywhere you can get gas. But these present-day BEVs with their huge and heavy batteries that still can’t easily do 400 miles (let alone in a regular ~$30k sedan, no SUV, certainly no truck), still call for near-perfect environmental conditions and even then don’t perform as per rated, and then on top there’s all the jazz with their fussy charging? No way Jose.
I’m due for a new car in the next couple of years and I think @ace has completely swayed me from going EV. Way too much planning, worry, and waiting around.
It’s not uncommon for me to hop in the car, drive a couple of hours and book a motel if I feel like a little break. My camper has a pre-packed bag with clothes and toiletries so I can grab that and run. I can’t see I’d ever be able to have the same level of abandon driving an EV.
That was my experience as well with my 2015 Tesla Model S. I had far less anxiety than I had with internal combustion cars worrying about stopping at gas stations in sketchy towns late at night. Tesla, though, arbitrarily took away my “for life” free supercharging which would have been a big deal except I now live on an island with no superchargers and a full charge can take me all the way around the island and back to my off-grid solar home charger.
You guys are a buzzkill ;-). I bought my first EV just a week ago. I’d been test driving cars for a few month but didn’t try an EV until last week, a year old Mustang. The smooth quiet acceleration blew me away. Great stereo, nice handling, sold. Didn’t do much EV research either, the 300 mile range seemed good.
But I never realized the spotty availability of fast chargers. We have another “regular” car for road trips, so still manageable
Another thing I didn’t realize is there’s no maintenance (except washer fluid which I’ll DIY). With a home level 2 charger, an EV is the perfect car for me. I just get in a drive. As a bonus I emit less CO2.
Here in Europe, well Ireland to be exact, with a litre of petrol (ahem) fluctuating between €1.70 and 2.20, EVs look a lot more attractive. That’s about $8.52 per gallon.
My wife and I put about €150 a week into our two cars. Actively considering adding to our solar array/battery a charger, swapping out one car and picking up a small car for local travel. It’ll mean moving from my car/her car to short car/long car. That shift in thinking might prove difficult.
I would rather drive a hybrid, saving considerably with the ease of filling the tank in a couple of minutes with easy payment. Not having to plan, research, use multiple Apps with multiple accounts and still encounter sketchy charging stations. My Toyota Camry goes over 400 miles and using adaptive cruise control, conservative AC usage, driving the speed limit can reach 48 - 50 mpg, especially good in traffic or streets with stop and go. I’ll pay the cost of fuel if it means less headaches and frustration.
Granted, should the new digital battery technology prove to be true to it’s claims of 800-1000 mile range, fast charging to full in 5-7 minutes. No impact from extreme cold or heat. Yeah, I might buy one in the future. But there have been multiple grandiose claims in battery technology that haven’t actually resulted in any widespread improvements. Overhyped publicity for investors is what it comes down to.
Sure. But you are no where near the center of the bell curve of needs of most car owners in the US.
And for that 2 minute stop you must have never taken kids on a trip. Especially those in diapers. Or had them use the proverbial mayonnaise jar.
Maybe where you grew up. But in much of the country while in theory there were plenty, many were not open more than 9 or 10 hours per day, or even at all on Sunday. And in rural western KY, they were still thin enough on the ground that gasoline “range anxiety” was an issue.
Upstate New York was not the same – gas stations were not ubiquitous when I started driving in the 1980s and there were also many fewer that were open late or early. Nothing like trying to eke out the last few miles into Ithaca and going past lots of shuttered gas stations.
Which is actually one of the main attractors for me.
And I just realized that I don’t need to replace the engine air filter this week. We have springs where the pollen clouds cover everything for 1 to 6 weeks. I change our my air filters (house and cars) after it is over each year. Still need to do the cabin one.
Last year, I pulled into our garage for the first time in my new Volvo EX30, and (surprise!) I just plugged it in to 240v.
I’ve been driving EVs since 1998. My first was the Honda EV-Plus. In that year, I had a 240v line run from the basement to a charging box installed in the garage. It was such a novelty that the local power company (PG&E) sent out 5 employees just to pose for a (pre-selfie) photo with it.
Here’s the thing: The same charger socket still worked with the Volvo plug — no change, after all this time.
Volvo includes a Tesla adapter, but I haven’t used it yet, because repeated super-charging reduces battery lifetime. And, before you try to dispute that, I know all the tricks (using the Google app to precondition the battery just before arriving at the charging station, the 80% rule, parking in the shade, etc., etc.)
My biggest complaint is CarPlay. It disconnects the phone randomly. Maps too often claims “server not found”, and Apple continues to display major thoroughfares without labeling them.
Thank you for this helpful article. It is by far the most detailed real life examination of the pros and cons of using an EV for a long road journey. My wife and I are seriously considering going electric for one of our next vehicles (probably the Hyundai) , but I have to say that based on your experience, the vehicle would be used just for local travel. While you made it clear that the EV can be used for a longer journey, the tradeoffs would not be acceptable for me. Great work!
Having flashbacks to this exact issue. 
I was trying to remember when paying at the pump became a thing, and it wasn’t all that long ago—late 90s. So even if there was a gas station within range, it could easily be closed depending on the time or day or day of week.
I have to say that, after reading this incredibly detailed and interesting article, it makes me less inclined to buy an electric vehicle. It sounds like such a rigmarole but, more important, the idea of having to spend so much time as a single woman alone at charging stations doesn’t give me the warm fuzzies at all. Living in the middle of nowhere in the mountain west doesn’t help, either. I would love to have a fully electric vehicle and have wanted to make the leap for quite a while, but I just can’t do it. I have plenty of friends with electric vehicles, and every one of them has a second car for longer trips (or they rent a car for long journeys.) Between the mountain driving and the months of very cold weather, I would be very nervous of getting to anywhere with a functioning, available charger in time. I assume things will continue to improve so I’ll keep paying attention to the options. Thank you for such a thoughtful summary of your trip!
Late 90’s was 26-30 years ago. We’re both getting old.
I grew up in New Jersey, where self-service is still not allowed, but I remember pay-at-the-pump was already available when I moved to Virginia in 1994. But at the time, I was still preferring to pay cash for my fuel, so I can’t say how common it was.
Interestingly, some stations leave the pumps turned on for this purpose even when the rest of the station is closed. I don’t know if this is legal or not, but it has been convenient when driving home from an event after midnight.
I think Adam’s critical analysis of his first road trips scared you off. What I’ve found is there are few places in the US where EV charging is an issue. Especially if you can use Tesla Superchargers. (I can with an adapter.) ABRP makes it almost trivial.
I still have memories of gas station planning on a trip from ABQ to PHX via Mesa Verde, Monument Valley, and the Grand Canyon a few years ago. And that one time driving I-85 in southern VA where I though I might have to spend the night in the car if the next exit didn’t have an open gas station. All of them at the previous two exits were closed.
1100 miles from central NC, to Haymarket VA, to State College Pa, then to Lititz, then back to Haymarket then home. Absolutely no issues with multiple charging options. With Tesla’s being the easiest to use. Not exactly urban centers along the way.