According to a new study, among three-year-old fully electric cars from the 2020 model year, the Tesla Model X is, perhaps surprisingly, the most driven. It's closely followed by its three Tesla siblings, which comes as no surprise. Meanwhile, the Porsche Taycan comes in the 12th position, a good distance behind the Kia Niro EV and Nissan Leaf.
The study was put together by iSeeCars, analyzing over 860,000 three-year-old EVs to get an idea of how many miles they're racking up. Interestingly, even the Tesla models at the top of the list aren't driven as far as the average gas-powered car, which means EVs cost more than gas cars but they're reportedly used less often. iSeeCars Executive Analyst Karl Brauer shares:
“Electric vehicle technology is advancing, but EVs still cost 45 percent more than the average gasoline model while being driven 29 percent less. That kind of disparity puts electric cars at a substantial disadvantage versus traditional vehicles.”
Based on study data, the average electric car has been driven 9,059 miles per year. As you'll see in the chart, Tesla essentially sets that average since most EVs on the road are produced by the US EV maker. On the flip side, the average gas car is driven 12,758 miles annually.
The iSeeCars study also looks at each EV's average range and price. It shows a connection between an electric car's range and how far it is typically driven. For every extra mile of EV range, drivers drove an additional 23 miles per year, based on the data. If this were to prove true with increased EV range, an electric car would potentially need 440 miles of range to be used as often as a gas car.
It's important to note that this is just a correlation based on the data. There could be several other reasons aside from the range that EV drivers are choosing to drive fewer miles. Perhaps they're just being more frugal and more calculated with their trips and route planning. Maybe they have a gas car in the family that they use for long road trips. Some of the data could be impacted by the fact that the global pandemic started in early 2020.
Regardless of how we choose to read, decipher, manipulate, and draw conclusions from the data, the iSeeCars chart is as follows:
