100% EV “EASY” GUIDE 13:
4 WAYS TO PREVENT CHARGING ANXIETY
SmartGrandad Explains: "Charging Anxiety" - The New Range Anxiety
When I bought my first electric vehicle, every second person I met at the supermarket or petrol station asked me the exact same question:
“What happens if you run out of juice in the middle of nowhere?”
My reply was, if have considered the possibility, then I have planned for a Plan B Charging site. And, if you do get stranded, road side services will come and give you a charge, just like if you ran out of petrol. Inconvenient, time consuming and costly, but not the end of the world.
Range Anxiety is worrying about getting to the charger before the battery hits zero. I can honestly say that there was only one occasion, 4 years ago, where I genuinely had huge range anxiety and that I caused myself, when taking a risk, by skipping a charging station in order to be on time for a ferry.
Fast forward to today, and most modern EVs easily pull off 300km -190 to 370km -230 miles on a single charge even on the autobahn /motorway. So for normal European /US road trips, I rarely feel any range anxiety.
However, a brand-new issue, that should be very easy to solve, has taken its place – **Charging Anxiety** and it is this that still keeps many potential EV drivers on the fence in 2026.
In this Guide SmartGrandad will explain 4 way to prevent Charging Anxiety.
What is "Charging Anxiety"?
Charging Anxiety is the dread of what happens when, after 2 hours motorway driving, you pull up to an EV Charger, only to discover the following:
- The Black Screen Of Death: The charger is completely dead. Usually at larger service stations, it is not a problem as there may 6-15 chargers to choose from, but occasionally there are only 1 or 2 and one or both are not working!
- The Charger App Nightmare: You need to download *yet another* smartphone app, enter your credit card details, and wait for confirmation while standing in the freezing rain. Worse still, as I have encountered, if you are abroad, your home app store does not have this chargers app available.
- No Working Card Payment Terminal: The charger is working but there is no card payment terminal / it does not work and you don’t have the app! At petrol stations you just go inside and pay but the attendant can’t take your EV Charger payment -super frustrating!
- The Charger Queue: Two or more cars are waiting ahead of you, and one driver is casually eating a sandwich inside their car while plugged into a 300kW charger at 98% battery state of charge waiting for that last 2%. Then a charger comes free and there is a scramble to get that space. Personally, this has only happened a several times, both a couple of years ago on the M25 in Uk, although now this site has doubled the number of chargers.
- NO Facilities (Cafe, Shop or Toilets) On numerous occasions the EV charging site is in an industrial estate and all you have is the EV Chargers and your car.
The Good News: Charging Networks ARE Getting Bigger and Better
But, its not all doom and gloom. After a very slow start, there are many more CPOs who are making major improvements across the charging network:
- Contactless Payment Terminals: Mandates across Europe and the UK are forcing operators to allow simple tap-and-pay card readers on all new chargers and many are retrofitting them. So you can tap and charge just like at petrol stations.
- Hub-Style Charging: Small 2-chargers at isolated sites are giving way to larger 12- to 24-bay high-power hubs with canopies, lighting, and amenities.
- Quicker Fault Detection & Maintenance: As the charging infrastructure matures, providers like IONITY and TESLA are getting much quicker at identifying and fixing “broken chargers”, especially at isolated sites.
- More Alternative Sites: Compared with only a year ago, if there is a problem with your charging site, the distance to an alternative is likely to be much less.
- EV Manufacturer / Multi CPO Payment Apps: It is likely that you EV manufacturers app will allow you to setup an account and find, start and pay at partnered EV Chargers. There are also many other apps like Electroverse (Octopus), Chargemap, Plugsurfing, Shell Recharge plus many more.
- Vehicle Plug & Charge Tech: Tesla proved how seamless this can be, and others like Kia, Hyundai, Mercedes, BMW and others have similar solutions where you turn up at a compatible charger and simply plug the car in and the rest happens automatically.
Things are changing fast, hopefully in the next year or so we will see EV Chargers reaching the same level of reliability /availability as their ICE counter parts.
SmartGrandad’s 4 Ways To Avoid Charging Anxiety
So when I undertake a road trip, here is how I navigate public charging stress-free:
- Plan Ahead, Don’t plan to arrive with 5% SOC: Treat 10-15% as your “zero state of charge.” It gives you plenty of buffer to drive to an alternative charger if your primary choice is broken or busy.
- Select & Charge At Hotels On Route: 85% to 90% of all EV charging happens overnight at home while you sleep. So aim to do the same on your road trip and let your car charge overnight on a slower, and probably cheaper, charger.
- Use Apps with Live Charger Site Info: Choose 100% EVs that have “Live” Charging Site info in their navigation systems. Choosed apps (Ionity, Tesla or ABRP that show live charger status and user feedback so you don’t turn up at a site with queues or to a broken charger.
- Monitor & Adjust Your Charging Destination: If your route get changed or your consumption increases, look for other alternatives on the way, don’t leave it to the last minute, because by then it could be too late to reach an alternative.
SmartGrandads Final Thoughts
The Bottom Line
Just as Range Anxiety has largely disappeared, don’t see Charger Anxiety as inevitable. Just use my 4 tips and you will soon get into the habit of enjoying a relaxed 100% EV, pollution free journey.
SmartGrandad Would Love To Hear Your Views.
So, keep your eyes open for when the next SmartGrandad “Easy 100% EV” Guide is posted.
Let me know of other topics that you would like covered in SmartGrandads 100% EV “EASY” Guides.