According to a recent study by iSeeCars, an automotive research firm, the Tesla Model X is the most driven electric car while the Porsche Taycan is the least driven.
The iSeeCars company analyzed the use of nearly 860,000 vehicles in the United States (all engines combined) between January and May 2023. Objective: to understand their use by calculating the average mileage for each model in order to determine the most and the least driven. First observation: electric cars travel fewer kilometers than thermal cars.
According to the company, the average three-year-old electric car has traveled 14,580 km per year, almost 29% less than the 20,500 km traveled each year by internal combustion vehicles. It is the American manufacturer Tesla which is, by quite a distance, at the top of the ranking. Its four models, the Model 3, Model Y, Model S and Model X all exceed the average electric vehicle in terms of kilometers traveled each year.
The Tesla Model X, the brand’s family SUV, comes in first with an average of 16,700 kilometers per year. According to iSeeCars analyst Karl Brauer, “ Tesla drivers are the closest to the driving behavior of traditional car owners ».
The American research firm even estimates that without Tesla, the average kilometers traveled by electric vehicle drivers would drop from 14,580 to 10,815. At the other end of the ranking, we find the 100% electric Porsche Taycan (competitor of the Model S), with an average of 7,800 km traveled each year.
Several reasons can explain the fact that electric vehicles are generally less driven than internal combustion vehicles. The study shows that they are often used as secondary vehicles. They are therefore rarely used for travel.
This is presumably related to battery life, which is causing anxiety according to iSeeCars. However, several studies show that 95% of car journeys are less than 50 km and that only 1% of car journeys exceed 140 km. Most electric vehicles are capable of achieving at least twice that distance. Anxiety related to autonomy therefore seems to be a non-issue.
The charging process for electric vehicles, which takes much longer than for traditional vehicles, is also singled out as a disadvantage.
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