Data from thousands of EVs shows the average daily driving distance is a small percentage of the EPA range of most EVs.
For years, range anxiety has been a major barrier to wider EV adoption in the U.S. It’s a common fear: imagine being in the middle of nowhere, with 5% juice remaining in your battery, and nowhere to charge. A nightmare nobody ever wants to experience, right? But a new study proves that in the real world, that’s a highly improbable scenario.
After analyzing information from 18,000 EVs across all 50 U.S. states, battery health and data start-up Recurrent found something we sort of knew but took for granted. The average distance Americans cover daily constitutes only a small percentage of what EVs are capable of covering thanks to modern-day battery and powertrain systems.
The study revealed that depending on the state, the average daily driving distance for EVs was between 20 and 45 miles, consuming only 8 to 16% of a battery’s EPA-rated range. Most EVs on sale today in the U.S. offer around 250 miles of range, and many models are capable of covering over 300 miles.
I want to buy electric when my ICE vehicles die in 10-15 years. But if I were in the market for a car today, I wouldn’t purchase electric. The fuck am I supposed to do when I visit my family 200 miles away from home? In the winter, when battery performance sucks, and with a loaded car and 4 passengers?
Stop half way, charge for thirty minutes and smell the roses? We’ve been programmed to all be type-A drivers, where the journey is just a burden. I drove 600 miles in my EV, made three stops I wouldn’t normally make along the way and saw some new places.
Not even. We exclusively roadtrip in an EV now. The whole family gets out to pee, grab snacks, and by the time we are ready, so is the car. As the driver, if it’s mealtime I might eat the harder to manage portion before we leave, and we aren’t rushing, but there was certainly no time to smell roses!
When we go on long trips, we routinely stop every 1.5-2h for a pee break and/or food, and that usually takes 20-30 minutes. Most times we don’t need gas, but if we had an EV, it wouldn’t really impact our road trip itinerary much if we could plug in during those stops. What would be nice maybe is if there could be highway stops with outdoor picnic areas as well as chargers.
Absolutely! And a place for the dog to do her business!
This is a nonstarter. Stopping for 30min to charge is not acceptable for a majority of people.
When we drive long distances, stop time is minimized. Fill up gas, while someone goes to get food while others go to the bathroom. The stop is done in under 10 min and we are in the way.
If I have to stop twice per direction, that’s an additional 40+ min on my drive. No fucking thanks.
Remember how I said we were all programmed to be type-A drivers? I rest my case.
That’s fair, but I have no desire to make the trip take longer. The trip is the price to pay for the destination. Driving sucks, so I want it to be over as fast as possible.
I get it. Some people are willing to enjoy the journey. I am not. I suspect I’m not in the minority here.
I was like you until I got an EV!
You know, I don’t know about this exact situation, but I just did a ski vacation with my model Y. The distances weren’t super long but the mountain climb was significant. Basically we rented a place at 1400ft and every day drove to the lodge at 6000+ ft. We had snow tires on admittedly dumb 20" wheels, car loaded with 5 people and all the gear. We did this routine for 4 days in a row. I think the actual distance was only like 20 miles or so but I don’t remember exactly.
Leaving the rental at 80% battery every morning and then returning at the end of the day at about 61%. The temperature ranged from 23F at the coldest to 36F on the warmest day.
Obviously a bit of a worst situation for EV efficiency.
All in all the efficiency didn’t really matter much, there were 6 ev chargers at the top of the mountain, though usually full ( one time a jeep double parked blocking two of them, fuck that guy). Though I didn’t used them this trip as I would just charge at the rental overnight.
Our trip to the rental is probably also a terrible situation, we left with 80% and arrived with ~40% on a somewhat short 60 miles. It took over two hours though due to heavy traffic.
We’ve done a bunch of road trips in this car over the last two years and what I’ve learned is that none of this stuff really matters for our lifestyle and location. Yeah winter wrecks efficiency. Yeah large wheels and snow tires wreck efficiency, stop and go with 5 people and all their gear in the freezing cold wrecks efficiency ,but even doing day trips to the mountains is fine, that’s when I plug into the charger while I ski. I had to get gas in my previous car for the same trip (Hyundai suv) which is annoyingly at the bottom of the mountain.
Rent a van or take a train for such trips.
Not sure why you’re being down voted. Rental cars exist and can be a better option that spewing emissions 360 days/year just so your can take your one long vacation, that isn’t really even that long…
Realistically though, a 200 mi trip, even if op lives in Alaska, is going to be at most 1 stop, and only if it’s really really cold.
Yeah, it’s like people who own a pickup truck only so they can tow a boat once or twice a year. It’s unnecessary.
How about they have a pickup to tow a boat any time they want during the season, and also be able to get firewood, mulch or a Christmas tree?
Just tossed 1/8 cord of firewood in the back of my EV6, and it’s pretty easy/common to toss a tree on the roof of a car. How often are you getting mulch?
Every year
So 3 big hauls a year? 2 of which could probably be done with most mid-size or larger cars, and one that could be handled with a $20 home Depot pickup rental annually? You’re probably spending quite a bit more in gas than you’re “saving” by not just renting a pickup for those 1-3 needs annually.