Electric Vehicles
Imagine, you’re about to rent a car. Online you chose the cheapest option, the classic Fiat 500. You turn up to the rental desk, and they famously tell you that it’s not an option. They’ve run out. Instead they say, you can drive one of their electric vehicles. The shock. The horror. You’re heading out of the city and into the sticks, and they want to give you an electric car. Impossible. What if you run out of power? What if there are no charging stations? You politely decline, and stick to what you’re used to. Today’s not the day for risky decisions.
If this sounds familiar, you probably suffer from range anxiety: the worry that your electric vehicle (EV) will run out of power before you reach your destination or a suitable charging point. We’ll help you explore whether this is a genuine fear, or something that you need to overcome.
Why don’t you own a Nokia 3310?
The Nokia 3310 is an absolute feat of engineering, with a standby battery life of 31 days from a single charge compared to the iPhone 17’s modest 37 hours. Even with this much shorter battery life, I’m going to take a wild guess that not only do you own a smartphone, but you probably don’t walk around with crippling anxiety about your battery life or finding a charger. Because, in reality, the latest smartphones charge faster than ever, and the modern world is built for keeping them powered. Airport? Check. Bus? Check. Train station? Check.
It’s the same with electric vehicles. The initial anxiety people felt when they first owned smartphones is similar to the range anxiety some still feel today. But the world has changed, and so has the infrastructure.
EV charging infrastructure is booming
Across the world, the network of EV charging stations has expanded dramatically in both scale and sophistication. What began as a patchy, unreliable service has evolved into a fast-growing global infrastructure supported by governments, automakers, and private investors.
The global rollout of charging infrastructure has accelerated rapidly. In 2024, the International Energy Agency reported that more than 1.3 million public charging points were added worldwide, marking a 30% increase in just one year. Even the United States, which still trails Europe in electric vehicle infrastructure, has made clear progress. According to the International Council on Clean Transportation, the number of publicly accessible charging ports rose to 204,000 between 2019 and 2024, growing by roughly 25% each year.
As a result, around two-thirds of Americans now live within two miles of a public charger, while in the European Union more than 70% of the population is within one kilometre of one. The fear of being stranded far from a charging point, once a legitimate concern, is quickly becoming outdated.
Speed Without Sacrifice
EV batteries now charge faster than ever. Take Tesla’s supercharger, which can provide up to 200 miles of charge in just 15 minutes, about the time it takes to grab a coffee and check your emails. But the next generation of battery innovation takes things a step further.
Nyobolt, a Cambridge-based scale-up, has developed a new type of rechargable battery using niobium, an element that sounds like something straight out of a Marvel movie. But their instant power technology is very real. Nyobolt’s batteries can charge from 10% to 80% in just four minutes and 37 seconds, roughly twice as fast as the fastest charging electric vehicles on the road today. Just as impressively, they can withstand more than 4,000 charge cycles without significant degradation, showing that speed doesn’t have to come at the cost of lifespan.
Anxiety cured?
Range anxiety is being cured from both sides: a rapidly expanding global charging network and faster, smarter battery technology. The truth is, unless there’s an apocalypse, if you live anywhere remotely urban, you’ll be fine. And if the thought of running out of charge still keeps you awake at night, that’s no longer anxiety, it’s an irrational phobia.
So take a breath. Plug in. Enjoy your iPhone, your EV, and the century you’re living in. The modern world is waiting for you.
