Range anxiety reduction in battery-powered vehicles

The limited cruising range of Electric vehicles (EVs) and the lack of recharging stations have contributed to what is viewed by potential adopters as range anxiety- contributing to a reserved attitude towards EVs. Within the context of this paper, range anxiety is defined as the concern of the vehicle operator that the EV is running out of energy. Thus, there is a critical need that the vehicle path is planned such that the operator is assured of access to energy recharging and such that the EV must possess a path rejection capability to prevent the potential of an out-of-energy state in-between recharging stations. This paper addresses this issue and proposes a technique to minimize range anxiety. This technique analyzes the battery capacity the EV needs to reach a charging station so that drivers are guaranteed not to be stranded. It also computes a robust estimate of driving range on a specific path. The paper reports simulation work conducted to test and validate the proposed techniques under various driving conditions.