How do battery electric vehicle drivers behave in a range critical situation in VR when using a "guess-o-meter" vs a novel range management tool?

Sammanfattning: Battery electric vehicles are becoming more common but still fall behind combustion engine cars in terms of driving range and charging time. The displayed driving range in electric vehicles' dashboard can be a volatile parameter suddenly dropping by 10-20\%, for instance when speed is increased. Which can result in a condition referred to as range anxiety . Hence it is interesting to observe more in detail how drivers behave and think in scenarios where range is important and the cars' available range can change drastically depending on the drivers driving style. Such scenarios are problematic to test in real traffic for practical and ethical reasons. In this article, without putting anyone at risk, we present a study using a VR driving simulator in a critical scenario with a substantial risk of running out of battery. Two separate groups (N=10) each drove on the same test track using two different range displays. One group had a typical range display showing the distance left to empty (out of battery) and the other group a novel and more transparent display. The novel display shows how speed is affecting the range. Both displays allow the driver to set a target driving range. The results indicate that the novel display allows for a more agile and adaptive driving style by changing between specific speeds rather than searching and "guessing" which speed is the most optimal as with typical range displays. Although, it can hide other affecting factors, such as acceleration and road height. Which was more prevalent amongst drivers who had to search and guess.