This World EV Day, we’re celebrating all things EV and want to support all you EV newbies with your journey. Whether you are brand new to the world of EV, have had your EV for a couple of months or are just starting your journey and considering getting your first electric car – you might be feeling a little bit overwhelmed by all the information out there. We totally understand, it takes a little bit of adapting and figuring out, but once you’ve got your head around everything it’s an easy transition. It might feel like a bit of a mind field right now getting your head around EV etiquette and factoring charging into your daily routine – but we’re on hand to make things simple.
Here’s our five top tips to help ensure your switch to electric is as smooth as possible:
Get to know the range of your electric car
This is an important one as anything you can do to maximise the range of your car will be beneficial. One thing to look out for is whether your EV has an eco-mode. If it does, enable it and you’ll notice that it will help improve your range. Another thing to familiarise yourself with is regenerative braking. Essentially what happens is when you lift your foot off the accelerator pedal and onto the brake, the motor swaps directions and starts to put energy back into the battery, so it turns your EVs kinetic energy into electricity to charge its battery and boost range – pretty clever technology!
On the other hand, things that can reduce your range include carrying extra weight and having the incorrect tyre pressure. If your vehicle is cluttered and filled with items you don’t necessarily need, this can lead to extra weight being in the car, which means it will use more energy when moving, reducing your range quickly – so make sure you declutter! Also, just sense check your tyre pressure regularly as if it is too low or too high, it will reduce the range of the car, as well as potentially affecting the handling.
Learn the rules of EV etiquette
Yes, that really is a thing! And it’s quite important in the EV community. It essentially goes back to treating others how you’d like to be treated, so making sure you’re aware of the rules and are following good electric car driver practise is crucial. This includes things such as:
- Don’t hog the chargers: the charge points aren’t parking bays; they are there to be used for charging and then moving on so another driver can charge. Once you’ve charged your EV sufficiently, make sure you clear the bay!
- Never unplug another car: this is a big no. Make sure you only unplug a vehicle that belongs to you, never unplug another person’s…
- Keep the bays tidy: just a general housekeeping rule we EV drivers follow, leave the bay as you would expect to find it, nice and tidy!
- Communicate with fellow drivers: considerate drivers often leave notes on their windshield to let others know how long they plan to charge if they’re popping to a shop for example. Communication is key when it comes to EV etiquette!
Embrace the EV world
One of the best things about being an EV driver is the community that comes with it. There are so many social media groups, forums and chats that are out there at every stage of your journey, but especially if you’re new to the EV world. Embracing this aspect is definitely something that will make your EV experience much more enjoyable. Whether you need advice, guidance or just want to share something really interesting you’ve found that other EV drivers can relate to - it’s definitely worth joining these groups and communicating with your fellow drivers.
Take care of your battery’s health
As with all things, your battery needs looking after to ensure it serves you well and lasts as long as it can. The healthier your battery is, the more energy it can hold. However, if you don’t look after it, you will find that it might start to impact your range and driving experience over time. To keep your battery as healthy as it can be, one thing you can do is avoid charging it to 100% every time you charge. This is because overcharging your EV can actually do more damage than good – which might surprise you, but it’s true! Generally speaking, good charging habits to introduce include waiting until your battery dips to 10-20% before charging it and not fully charging to 100%, but to around 80%. This will preserve your batteries health overtime.
Get into a charging routine
Our fifth and final tip is probably one of the most important ones and that is to get into a charging routine. This means make being an EV driver work around your schedule and your daily routine. Whether you’re going to do the weekly food shop, heading to a meeting for work or visiting the gym for a workout – plan charging your car around you! This will make the transition to EV much smoother as it means it fits into your life, as opposed to your life fitting around your car.
To further support and celebrate World EV Day this month, we’ve dedicated our social media channels to providing advice and insight for new EV drivers in order to help make your new sustainable transport journey as simple and smooth as possible. We’ll be sharing useful articles, top tips and even insight from our very own GeniePoint drivers!
Don’t worry if you’re an established EV driver, there’s still something for you as we’ll be asking a series of polls and questions that you can get involved with and share your thoughts to provide valuable advice for those EV newbies. To access this content, head to our Twitter, Instagram and Facebook pages.