Our cars The 1% club
We push the comfort zone of our range anxiety with some long-distance driving in the Volvo.
Richard Bush
To the combustion-loving layman, range anxiety is still very much a prevalent antagonist in the world of electric cars. Even though the charging network has progressed massively in the last five years, those who aren’t in the know still tend to think that you’re going to run out of juice just nipping to the supermarket. Cross country motorway journeys? You can forget about it.
Having driven electric cars for a fair few years now – through the good, the bad and the Twizy – I can confidently say that range anxiety, at least for me, is a thing of the past. I’ve been driving the Volvo EC40 for just under six months, and every week with it gives me thicker skin when it comes to so-called range anxiety. Recharge breaks while travelling up and down the country have become a welcomed norm. And I will happily let the Volvo sit on my drive with 30% range for over a week, confident that under half a battery will get me pretty much anywhere I need to go in a pinch. A recent long distance drive allowed me to really test my pain threshold for range anxiety. Returning to the car at the train station, I was in a rush, so I didn’t have time to come up with a pit stop plan for charging. And I didn’t
In the EC40, it even automatically plans in a charging pitstop at around 10% capacity, ensuring you haven’t forgotten to keep an eye on your range. The dreaded 1% that became 5%, eventually became 14% when I arrived home. I survived. And I was pretty anxiety-less the entire trip home, finding solace in the fact that the EC40’s Google Maps had my back and that a charging station was just a quick click away.
This trip was a good test of the EC40’s predicted total range of 340 miles – which is more like 250 miles in real world driving. It was also a good test of its range reliability, which is everything when it comes to trip planning with an EV.
have time to boost the car’s battery, which was at 90%.
I punched in my home address to find that I was 195 miles and 3.5 hours away. The EC40’s built-in Google Maps - which gives a real-time prediction of your arrival range – said that I’d make it with just 1% battery remaining. I decided to wing it. I set off knowing that I’d have to keep my eye on the range and on service
Why we’re running it
To see if Volvo’s all-electric crossover can handle a growing family of four.
stations with charging facilities. After an hour or so however, my squeaky bum became a lot more relaxed as the 1% predicated arrival range had gone up to 5%. There were a few traffic hiccups along the way, but the range was seemingly unaffected, as Google Maps had factored said stoppages in. The EC40’s built-in Google Maps was great in this respect, as it’s specifically tailored to EV driving - unlike standard Google Maps which is available through your phone via Android Auto or Apple Carplay. Google Maps kept me up to speed on nearby charging stations in the form of pop-up locations of interest.
More than anything else however, it was testament to how far the UK’s charging network has come. Setting off on a long distance trip, knowing I was going to be cutting it close, used to be a fun experiment. It felt like there was risk involved. But the fun experiment is no more - which is a good thing.
Volvo EC40 Ultra, Single Motor Extended Range
P11D £58,300 Price as tested £58,355 Official WLTP Range 341 miles Test consumption 3.33 miles/kWh Mileage 5,333
www.businesscar.co.uk | May/June 2025 | 47
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