this post was submitted on 22 Feb 2024
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Electric Vehicles

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You Need Way Less EV Range Than You Think: Study (insideevs.com)
submitted 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) by MicroWave to c/evs
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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.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I think owning a commuter car with shorter range and renting anytime you need longer range makes a lot of sense. I don't know why more people don't do it.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

Because it doesn't make sense, if a rental car is $59 a day, and you leave town one day a month, an take 1 week of vacation, that's 18 days a year, or $1062 extra cost per year, over the life of the car that's $10-15k so unless the commuter car is at least $10,000 cheaper it doesn't make sense.

And if you need it more than one day a month the math falls apart really quick, 2 weekends a month is $3k a year or at least $30,000 over the life of the car.

[–] [email protected] -2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Your selective math is not doing you any favors and I'm not sure you fully understand what I'm suggesting. Do you know what TCO is?

I actually did this for a while and it worked out well for me. My divorcemobile was a very old and very used 1st generation Prius. I rented pickup trucks for vacations. I didn't leave town 1x/month, not sure why that is a need. But this points out that everyone has very different scenarios and needs.

More recently I've took a vacation by train and rented a car at my destination which worked out well.

When the day comes where we can buy econobox EVs this seems like a viable solution to me. But it does depend on a person's transportation needs.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

once a month was a conservative estimate for me, and $59 is a low end car rental, I'm living in a small town if you cant get it at Walmart or the grocery store it's 100 miles to the nearest city. also medical resources are limited so anything more then a GP visit or an ER means the same drive.

If you have an EV and regularly rent a car for longer drives it completely eats the TCO savings of an EV. https://nickelinstitute.org/media/8d993d0fd3dfd5b/tco-north-american-automotive-final.pdf

I don't where you live but it's over 200 miles for me to get to a passenger rail terminal.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago

Rural living does come with challenges that urban living does not. A hybrid might be the best solution for that situation.

I don't think EV is the solution for everyone everywhere in its current state. Perhaps one day it will be as the tech improves.

I do think that most urban commuting could and should be done in EVs.