Range anxiety: why the fear is bigger than the reality

What worries Brits most on a longer EV journey?

When asked what would worry them most on a longer EV journey, motorists said running out of charge before reaching a charging point was their top concern (36%). One in five (20%) worry about being stuck in traffic with the battery running low, while 13% fear arriving at a charger to find it broken or occupied.

Split the answers between those who've driven an EV and those who haven't, though, and a very different picture emerges.

Biggest worry on a longer EV journey

Among people who have never owned an EV, 41% say running out of charge is their biggest worry. Among current owners, that falls to 23%. The fear of getting stuck in traffic on a low battery drops too, from 21% to 13%.

In other words, the people most worried about running out of charge tend to be the ones who have never had to charge a car.

AA data predicts EV and ICE breakdowns to be on par at 1%

Of the EV owners in our survey, 85% haven't run out of charge at any point in the last 12 months.

And the UK's breakdown data tells a similar story. According to AA figures, just 1.85% of the EV breakdowns it attended in 2024 were down to running out of charge, down from 8.26% in 2015. It seems that the longer range of EVs nowadays really is having a positive effect. Putting that into perspective, of the 8,000 breakdowns the AA attends per day across all vehicles, only five or six of them are EVs that have run out of charge.

Even that figure overstates the problem, as many of those callouts aren't cars sitting on zero. They're often drivers who are low on charge and worried about making it to the next charger. The AA expects the figure to settle at around 1%, roughly the same as petrol and diesel cars running out of fuel.

But what happens if an electric car runs out of charge? Well, it's far less dramatic than it sounds. EVs are now covered as standard by many breakdown providers. They'll either give you a short emergency top-up so you can get going again, or take you to the nearest working charger.

The typical electric car breakdown looks a lot like any other, too. The AA found the most common EV faults are the same as for petrol and diesel cars: tyres, wheels and the 12V battery. That should reassure anyone asking if electric cars are reliable.

What is range anxiety, and where does it come from?

So, what is range anxiety? Put simply, it's the worry that an electric car won't have enough charge to reach your destination or the next charging point. However, our findings suggest it has less to do with the cars themselves and more to do with unfamiliarity.

Even though EVs are becoming more commonplace on UK roads, our survey found that only 30% of drivers who have never owned an EV feel they know enough about electric cars to make an informed decision about buying one.

That knowledge gap goes a long way to explaining the fear around range anxiety. If you’ve never experienced and lived with an EV, it's natural to assume the worst.

Better batteries and chargers are changing minds

But attitudes are shifting. More than a quarter of motorists (28%) say improvements in public charging have made them less concerned about using an EV for a long journey. A similar share (26%) say the same about improvements in electric car range.

Among current EV owners, both figures rise to around four in ten (40% and 39%). And among 35- to 44-year-olds, 40% say better range has eased their long-journey worries, the highest of any age group.

It's also changing how people feel about EVs in general. 

Some cities are further along than others. In Manchester (37%) and Edinburgh (35%), more drivers say better charging has eased their long-journey worries than in any other city surveyed.

If you're wondering how far an electric car can go on a single charge, our EV range calculator will give you a realistic figure for the models you're considering.

From "will I get there?" to "which charger shall I use?"

Once people own an EV, their worries don't disappear, but they do change.

Among current owners, the biggest concern is broken or occupied chargers (21%), followed by the cost of rapid EV charging (20%).

But these mirror the gripes of the everyday motorist, who grumble about queues at the pumps or the price per litre.

Where range anxiety runs highest in the UK

Fear of running out of charge varies noticeably across the country. In our survey, drivers in the South West were the most likely to name it as their biggest worry on a longer EV journey (47%), followed closely by the North East (46%) and the East of England (45%).

In contrast, Greater London, the South East and Northern Ireland were the least worried, with around three in ten naming it as their top concern.

Drivers most worried about running out of charge on a longer EV journey, by region

According to the latest Department for Transport figures, the UK had 174.9 public chargers per 100,000 people as of July 2026. All three of the most range-anxious regions fall below that: the South West has 156.7, while the North East and East of England each have 150.2. The North East is also below average for rapid chargers.

London, the least worried region, has 345.1 public chargers per 100,000 people, almost double the national average, so drivers there are rarely far from a plug.

The South West is even more fortunate, with the most rapid chargers in England, at 49.5 per 100,000 people. These are the chargers that matter most on a longer journey, which suggests the South West's fear may be unfounded.

Men vs women: who's more convinced?

There's a clear gender divide in confidence in EVs, with men feeling slightly more positive. Our survey showed that men are far more likely to say improvements in battery range have eased their worries about long EV journeys (34% vs 20%). Meanwhile, women are more likely to name running out of charge as their biggest concern (39% vs 34%).

These findings align with how much each gender thinks they know about EVs, with just over half of men (52%) feeling they know enough to make an informed decision about buying one, compared with 38% of women.

Men, meanwhile, are the more impatient bunch: 15% say having to wait to charge would be their biggest worry, compared with 9% of women.

Five tips for beating range anxiety on a longer EV journey

Whether you already drive an EV or you're thinking about whether an EV is right for you, a little planning goes a long way. Here are five simple ways to take the stress out of EV range anxiety.

1. Know your real-world range, including in winter - Every EV has an official range figure, but real-world electric car range depends on speed, weather and how you drive. Cold weather has the biggest effect on EV range in winter. A Recurrent study of more than 30,000 EVs found cars kept an average of 78% of their range at 0°C, and 70% at -7°C. The good news is that the loss is temporary, and range returns as temperatures rise.

2. Plan your stops with a charging app - The majority of charging apps will show live charger availability, speed, and price, so you can avoid broken or busy units before you set off. Many newer EVs also build charging stops into the car's own sat nav.

3. Precondition while you're plugged in - Warming the cabin and battery while the car is still on charge means the energy comes from the mains, not your battery. Once you're moving, heated seats and a heated steering wheel use far less energy than blasting the cabin heater.

4. Charge to 80% on rapid chargers - If you're wondering how long it takes to charge an electric car, it depends on the battery size, the charger speed, and the temperature. On rapid EV charging, most cars charge fastest up to around 80%, then slow down to protect the battery. Stopping at 80% and moving on usually gets you back on the road sooner and preserves battery life.

5. Charge at home where you can - How much does it cost to charge an electric car? It depends on where you plug in. Charging at home on an off-peak tariff is far cheaper than public rapid chargers, so leaving home with a full battery takes pressure off the rest of the journey.

The bottom line

Range anxiety is real, but mostly felt by people who haven't yet driven an electric car. Owners worry far less about running out of charge, and the vast majority simply haven't.

The national breakdown data backs that up, with EVs running out of charge now almost as rare as petrol and diesel cars running out of fuel.

Alex Lee, Senior Digital Marketing Executive at Dick Lovett, said:

"Range anxiety is one of the most common things we hear from customers thinking about going electric, and it's completely understandable. But our research shows it's a worry that mostly belongs to people who haven't driven an EV yet. Owners are far less concerned about running out of charge, and most haven't. Once people have lived with an electric car for a few weeks, the question changes from 'will I get there?' to 'which charger shall I stop at?'.

Thinking about making the switch? Browse our new electric cars in stock or our range of used electric cars, and read more about why Britain is nearing its EV tipping point.

Censuswide conducted the research among 1,000 UK motorists between 14 and 16 September 2026.