Almost every driver is familiar with the situation when a car stalls dead somewhere in the middle of the road due to lack of fuel. Maybe he just didn't make it to the gas station, or maybe the devices were a little lied to. The owner of an ordinary car can ask for some gasoline even from passing drivers, but what should owners of electric cars do? It is almost impossible to accidentally meet someone who carries an energy canister with him in the trunk, but you still have to look for a way out of the situation.
Signals not to be ignored
To begin with, an electric car is a smart car that will give the owner several warning signals about the imminent depletion of the battery. The standard tablet displays the current state of the battery, the current output of the battery and even its temperature, which directly affects the rate of charge consumption. The control system provides the driver with all the necessary information on time. His task is not to ignore her messages and correctly navigate the situation.
If the charge is quickly consumed, then to save, you can turn off some consumers. For example, in winter, the climate control system draws a lot of energy, so instead of heating the entire cabin, you can switch to heating the seats and steering wheel. Be sure to study the map and look for the nearest charging stations. There will be no problems with this anywhere in Europe, but in our country this infrastructure is still poorly developed.
When the battery charge drops to a critical level of 10%, the monitoring system will begin to alert the driver about the situation even more persistently. You won't be able to dismiss these signals. Before fully discharging the electric car will go into emergency mode. It can stretch for a few more kilometers so that the driver can remove the car with the "dead" battery from the busy highway to the side of the road. In European countries, careless car owners who create accidents on the road due to their carelessness are fined big sums. Our driver can also face unpleasant consequences, because his "swallow" was on the road not because of a breakdown.
The car owner just needs to remember a few simple rules that will help to use battery energy economically:
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Alternate full battery charging with fast charging.
- The battery does not like either cold or overheating, so it needs to ensure a normal operating temperature. If the driver often drives an electric car in extremely low temperatures, then it makes sense to purchase a special battery heating system.
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Observe the rules of economical driving, which directly depends on the driving style.
- Use the battery charge economically in winter.
We are looking for a way out of the situation
Tips will help prevent an unpleasant situation, but what if the battery charge is already at zero? You can wring your hands for a long time and ask questions to the higher powers that treated the driver so cruelly, but the electric car will not charge itself. The car owner has several options:
- Contact the manufacturer who usually provides support for their drivers.
- Call a dedicated service with a mobile filling station.
- Charge the car from your energy canister.
Almost every developer of electric cars offers customers a set of additional services, which also includes assistance to a driver stuck on the road with an empty battery:
- BMW. The company has service centers in almost all major cities. Members of the service program can simply call and arrange for the transportation of the electric car to a charging stations or call a special car that will replenish the battery charge right on the road.
- KIA. The battery is guaranteed for 7 years. The Koreans added to the package of services and transportation of an electric car to the nearest charging stations.
- Volkswagen. The company provides a two-year warranty. Before this period expires, the driver can contact the manufacturer and order a tow truck, which will take the car to refuel or deliver it directly to the car owner's house.
- Mercedes. The company gives drivers a very interesting offer. If the car owner uses only the services of corporate service, then he gets a unique opportunity to use a renewable warranty for up to 30 (!!) years.
- Opel. Offers drivers a chargeable car call with a portable filling station.
Contacting the developer is the easiest option, although you can also call special services that will bring a mobile charging stations directly to the electric car. Unfortunately, electric cars are still considered a curiosity in our country, so there are very few such organizations and they operate mainly in large cities. If you are stuck somewhere in the middle of a deserted track, you will have to rely only on your strength.
The driver has two options - calling a tow truck, which will cost a pretty penny or an energy canister. Seems fantastic? But they have already become a reality. First, two large foreign companies presented mobile charging stations to the general public, and then craftsmen from Russia, WATTS BATTERY, offered electric car owners "energy in their pocket" - personal modular power plants. These are compact energy canisters that can be transported in the trunk or even carried with you, as one of the models is equipped with straps like a regular backpack.
From such a mobile station, you can charge not only an electric car, but a smartphone, tablet, laptop, and even an electronic reader or a smartwatch. With such an acquisition, the driver may not be afraid of a complete discharge of the battery on long journeys. The mobile station weighs only 12 kg and can be charged from a generator, grid, or solar panels. It is quite possible that shortly in the trunk of every electric car driver there will be such an energy canister, although the price of the new product still bites heavily.