AAA provided roadside assistance to 160,000 EVs in the U.S., representing a 180% increase from 2019, according to data shared with TIME. The majority of those cases involved tire damage. But those very big numbers are actually very small numbers.
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00:00 AAA services over 30 million vehicles at the roadside every year.
00:05 One in every four households has a AAA membership.
00:08 Whenever a big market change like electric vehicles happens, we see that happen in our data as well.
00:15 [Music]
00:40 The reason there's more tire issues for EVs, it kind of comes down to two different things.
00:45 Electric vehicles are about 30% heavier than a gasoline vehicle of the same size.
00:49 And as a result, it puts a tremendous amount of strain.
00:52 You combine that with the fact that electric vehicles can accelerate and stop very quickly.
00:57 And it's all of the things that a tire doesn't like, having to go through all those forces.
01:02 And then if you think about something that is 30% heavier and you hit a pothole,
01:07 you've got about the same size tire on it that you would if a vehicle is 30% lighter.
01:11 And bingo, you've got a lot of tire problems.
01:14 And that combined with the fact that they tend to wear tires out more quickly,
01:18 yeah, there's a lot of tire-related issues.
01:21 Then to top that cake off, most electric vehicles don't have spare tires.
01:27 So anytime there's a problem, they've got to call AAA.
01:30 [Music]
01:36 About 2% of the calls that we get are for people that have run out of gas.
01:39 About 4% of the EVs that call us are for people that have run out of charge.
01:43 So it's still a very small percentage of the overall population of the types of requests that we get.
01:50 But it does exist.
01:53 And range anxiety is a valid concern for people,
01:56 particularly those that are using it for more than just commuting.
01:59 AAA has set up 24 markets across the U.S. in which we have the ability to charge an electric vehicle at the roadside,
02:06 if it can be done safely.
02:08 And if you're not in one of those markets or that service is not available,
02:11 or you're broken down along a roadway where it's not safe to sit and charge the vehicle,
02:16 we'll tow you to the nearest charging facility.
02:18 [Music]
02:28 One other point that we should hit on,
02:30 a lot of the calls that we get from people with electric vehicles are actually at charging stations.
02:35 And you think, "Why is that?"
02:37 Well, the truth is that a high percentage, anywhere between 25 and 50% of the charging stations publicly available,
02:43 are not working at any given time.
02:45 So whenever you're planning your trip in an electric vehicle,
02:48 you need to have some backup contingencies in those situations.
02:52 And that backup contingency would probably include knowing where the second charging location is
02:59 and whether or not you have enough charge to get there.
03:01 [Music]