Autonomy anxiety and disconnection, how to deal with them!

ELECTRIC DAYS DIGITAL: HOW TO FOLLOW THE EVENT FROM 8 TO 12 FEBRUARY

Today, 9 February opens the second day of Electric Days Digital, the digital event dedicated to electric mobility. The video investigation Electric Report of the opening day on the Italians and the electric car showed a motorist still poorly informed and afraid of battery-powered cars. In fact, if there is an argument that the users of smartphones and electric cars have in common, it is precisely theautonomy anxiety. But if that from a smartphone can be said to be almost resolved, that generated by electric cars is far from subsiding. With right reason?

Very large batteries

For many years the manufacturers of device they faced and solved the autonomy of their products. In the first place increasing the capacity of the smartphones themselves. It is now almost normal to find them with batteries above 4,000 millampere hours. Capacity that thanks to super-performing and low energy-consuming processors increase autonomy even to a few days. Electric cars are no exception. The capacity of their lithium batteries currently starts at 35 kilowatt hours in the Honda-E or Mazda MX-30 to well over 95 kilowatt hours in the Audi e-tron S Sportback. Capabilities that bring the range of battery-powered cars from 200 to over 500 kilometers. Important mileage that, however, does not seem to relax the frowning foreheads of their respective owners. The reason? The uncertainty of charging.

For smartphones it was easy to have more charging points available. Several restaurant chains, before the pandemic, have increased the number of outlets on the premises to allow customers to recharge their smartphone, tablet and laptop batteries. Especially during the lunch break. So, if in the Middle Ages of technology, you stopped in a bar to go to the toilet, it is since the days of the first iPhone (June 29, 2007) that you stop for a short recharge on your mobile. Pandemic permitting.

The HPC and powerbank columns

Cell phone autonomy anxiety is an almost resolved pathology. The credit always goes to the manufacturers who have designed the super charge chargers e i powerbank. Thus, in a matter of minutes you can get a surplus enough charge for several hours. Keeping the parallelism, the same thing is happening for electric cars too. It’s HPC columns (High Power Charger) with direct current to allay anxieties. Especially those of the passenger of an electric car who appears every time to push the car. The ultra-fast columns, in fact, allow you to go from twenty to eighty percent of the battery in less than twenty minutes. However, currently they are very few. In August 2020 they were 10 ultrafast active columns on the Italian territory.

But short high-voltage stops will also become the solution for electric cars. In this first part of the year there are already many announcements of new installations. One of the latest is the agreement between Porsche, Q8 and Enel X which provides for the construction of 20 ultrafast charging stations in the Q8 service areas by the end of 2021. It seems that the columns will finally arrive also on the motorway. Autostrade per l’Italia presented the project for the installation of 4-6 high power multi-client columns within all 67 main stations. Thus, it will be possible to recharge cars in 15 or 20 minutes depending on the absorption power of the battery. They will in fact be columns of the HPC type with powers that will reach 350 kilowatts.

To tell the truth, motorists in Milan, Rome and their hinterlands can be a little less anxious. Even for their electric cars, in fact, it is true the principle of power banks. External batteries that connect via a USB-C cable to restore life to lifeless smartphones has also become a reality for electric cars. If the machine fails to reach the column, it is the same column that, having become mobile, reaches the machine when and where you want. The solution comes from E-Gap home top-up service. Simply request recharging via the app and the electric van arrives on site. There is no need to be physically present: the car is enough. You unlock the car from your application and allow fast charging with a power of 50 kilowatts.

Connectivity in favor of autonomy

The important aspect to consider is that the electric or electrified car is naturally prone to own protection. If on the smartphone, there is the possibility to activate the energy saving mode, close the most energy-intensive apps, lower the brightness of the display, the same happens in battery-powered cars. On all of them there is the eco function which automatically decreases the power supplied by the electric motor, reduces the consumption of the air conditioning system to a minimum and many other measures.

However, most people who frequently use an electric car experience the same change in behavior. After the first few days of lightning shots at traffic lights with batteries that decrease visibly, we move on to energy saving phase in which it is natural to moderate the weight of the right foot on the accelerator. It is kind of a challenge to the consumer as little as possible to prove that they are better at extending mileage. In addition to this aspect, it is necessary to shed some light on the battery control systems which are much more advanced when compared to those of a smartphone.

The electric car is by definition connected. Among the latest applications to combine mileage extension and connectivity there is Power Cruise Control. It is a innovative driving system based on variable speed and power parameters according to the orography of the terrain and the itinerary undertaken. This solution is capable of increasing the mileage of electric vehicles by more than 10 percent. PCC works as a cruise control which adapts the speed of the vehicle not only according to the traffic, but also following the slopes of the route and the characteristics of the route. What about connection anxiety? Before leaving, remember to always download maps. The other possible solution is the paper route book or alternatively ask the locals for information.

ELECTRIC DAYS DIGITAL: HOW TO FOLLOW THE EVENT FROM 8 TO 12 FEBRUARY