Can’t really walk to the nearest gas station and get a can of charge…
Carry a 100 ft extension cord and knock on people’s doors – 'can I borrow some juice" ?
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Call AAA for a tow? Maybe if there come to be enough of them on the road, they’ll come up with some kind of emergency charging system where they could give you enough juice to get to the next charging station.
Maybe this isn’t going to be aproblem when an electric car ages and the owner finds himself or herself driving a bucket of volts.
Get towed to the nearest charging station or home, whichever is closer. If I have en electric, I would be very conscious of the mileage. Imagine getting stuck in a traffic jam when low on charge while running the heater/AC and radio. It doesn’t seem like much with a gasoline car, but those accessories will eat charge all the time.
Call a tow truck and have it hauled to a charger.
Range anxiety is real and running out is an ever present possibility. An extension cord may not work…I don’t think any of these cars has an on-board charger.
Caveat emptor!
The same thing you do if your engine dies… call AAA.
The vehicle leading the charge (oh, that pun felt good), Tesla, has a range in excess of 200 miles. That should be sufficient for all but the most negligent of drivers. I’ve known very, very few drivers whose daily mileage on their family car was in excess of 200 mileage. I can only think of one. And for those people, gas powered cars are still prolific.
They become a pedestrian. Sorry couldn’t resist.
I woul carry a small generator ( Yamaha makes them ) and adaptor for your car, along with a can of gas in the back if I had an electric car and was forced to venture too far. Pack a good lunch and take a long nap while it charges you up enough to get you home.
At some point, they will be better able to handle trips when society gets one that charges quickly and can be plugged in to any 110 outlet. Then, every house or place of business becomes a a “filling station”. So really, they can reach a point where range anxiety is no longer a factor. Society just has to get off their collective asteroids and figure out when they will move in that direction.
<b>range anxiety is no longer a factor</b>
I’m not sure that will ever fully come to pass. The more expensive electric cars should have navigation software that warns in no uncertain terms that the car will stop unless you head to a designated charger, NOW, not later.
I have a friend that would still be stranded… She’s run out of gas at least a dozen times over the years. No amount of yellow dash lights helped. At least fuel was a short walk or phone call away.
Some things can’t be fixed… 
dagosa wrote:
I woul carry a small generator ( Yamaha makes them ) and adaptor for your car, along with a can of gas in the back if I had an electric car and was forced to venture too far.
I’m afraid that I think it’s too dangerous to carry around a can of gas, so I wouldn’t recommend that others do this. By the way, you’ve essentially just described the Chevy Volt.
+1 to lion’s post.
What do electric car drivers do when they run out of “gas” ?
They sit there and play on their iThing while waiting for the tow truck. Just like any one who starts a trip with insufficient fuel.
At some point, they will be better able to handle trips when society gets one that charges quickly and can be plugged in to any 110 outlet.
These are mutually exclusive. Most 120V outlets are limited to 15A or 1800W. One hour of charging would gain you only about 7 miles of range. (Same problem with a small, carry along, generator.)
@insightful I agree. Many well meaning “green” advocates disregard the laws of physics and the concept of energy density. One hundred years ago the electric car lost out on the internal combustion engine for that very reason. Steam cars had similar disadvantages.
Toyota thinks a fuel cell powered by hydrogen will be the answer. However where do we get hydrogen? The only two ways to make it in a “green” way is by electrolysis of water using nuclear or water generated electricity. A fuel cell powered by compressed natural gas is complex and you might as well burn the natural gas in an internal combustion engine directly.
I believe the battery cost and capacity problem will be solved before the rapid charging challenge will be. I have an electric cordless drill, but it has 2 batteries so one is charging while the other one is being used.
As it stands, electric cars will make sense mostly for multi vehicle families. One of our cars is mostly used for urban shopping trips and could easily be electric if the price was right.
The only two ways to make it in a "green" way is by electrolysis of water using nuclear or water generated electricity.
There are others…
I really think the Chevy Volt approach, having an ICE aboard for situations that go beyond the battery range, makes economic and perhaps environmental sense.
Using a lightweight ICE instead of lugging along a battery that weighs as much as a concert grand piano everywhere you go makes the car a lot more energy efficient in electric mode. The Tesla is an energy guzzler compared to other electric cars with less range, mostly, I suspect, because of its nearly 5000 lb curb weight, the price it pays for having that 200+ mile range.
The only downside to the Volt approach is that it offends the electric car purists.
I agree with @“B.L.E.” The only way to have a reasonably priced electric car that can be a primary driver is to have an ICE attached to it. The Volt has the best range at this time. Maybe Toyota will decide to catch up in the near future, but the Prius model seems to be working for them and they don’t have to just now.
Seems to me hybrid is the way to go,there are otherways to hybridize things,Caterpillar has some new excavators that are said to be 25 % more fuel efficent(with hydraulic accumulators,rather then electric ones)one technology I would avoid like the plague is Hydrogen power(combustion) there is just too many things that make it unsuitable,I think the future belongs to Otto and Tesla.
I have heard rumors that Eaton-Fuller is working on or perhaps already selling hydraulic accumulator based kinetic energy recovery systems for heavy truck use. Just the ticket for delivery trucks, garbage trucks, city busses, and other heavy vehicles that have to constantly stop and start.