I've gotten the dreaded turtle mode once (within a month of owning my EV), and was dumb/cocky enough to go from Scripps Ranch to Carlsbad and back on 56 miles per the GOM. First experience of range anxiety was when I drove it fresh off the Dianne's dealership lot to Temecula to drop off my parents and then straight to San Diego. Drove about 60 mph and had <10 miles left on the GOM by the time I had it parked in my garage. I thought that was bad but the 2nd one made me realize at the early stages of EV ownership not to mess with the EV gods. Long story short. I had 10 miles to go on the freeway with my GOM saying 8 left. I drove 55 mph the rest of the freeway trip and as I hit my exit which was 2 miles away from my house, the turtle came on and forced me to drive <25 mph the rest of the way. I was so scared and anxious and really stressed out because of all the hassle this would have caused for me and my gf (went to watch a midnight movie at cinepolis and would have hated to end the day on such a bad/stressful note). My rav 4 ev gutted it out and pulled through for me but after that, I promised myself not to push my awesome EV to the limit anymore. That whole ride was so stressful (I work in a very high stress environment and can tell you I am not easily phased or stressed out and I can honestly say that that ride has been one of the most stressful experiences I've ever had to deal with) but since then, I have graduated from EV-noob academy and have a better grasp of the EV world. Been driving stress-free since and I really am glad I made the right choice of getting the rav 4 ev over a smart car ev (dont laugh) or the nissan leaf.
