Do you think Leaf or EV Owners Drive More/Less than Average?

Read this interesting story titled "Do Nissan LEAF Owners Actually Drive MORE Than Non-EV Owners?" Thought to share with you. What do you think? Do EV drivers drive any more or less than average car drivers? Is there any reason for this?

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armmynissanleaf said:

Read this interesting story titled "Do Nissan LEAF Owners Actually Drive MORE Than Non-EV Owners?" Thought to share with you. What do you think? Do EV drivers drive any more or less than average car drivers? Is there any reason for this?

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I don't know about most EV drivers, however, we are driving more than we used to, and more than the national average.
Driving is just so much more pleasant with an EV than an ICE.

armmynissanleaf said:

Read this interesting story titled "Do Nissan LEAF Owners Actually Drive MORE Than Non-EV Owners?" Thought to share with you. What do you think? Do EV drivers drive any more or less than average car drivers? Is there any reason for this?

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I bet there is a lot of variance. In Atlanta, there is a lot of incentive to lease instead of buy. That would probably tend to limit the mileage compared to an ICE car. But where that is not an issue, I'd choose to drive the Leaf any time I could confidently get there and back due to cost. The only time I'd choose a more expensive method of getting there would be as a pure luxury experience, like taking my wife out or something. We already drive a lot, but I could see where you would increase the amount of driving. The ability to charge at home means you don't have to have the hassle of going to the gas station. Sometimes, people just don't feel like making that extra trip. There are a lot of people who limit driving because they might have to scrape up gas money. Also, is the typical Leaf driver the same as the typical non-Leaf driver? Perhaps heavy drivers are more likely to buy an EV in the first place.

We drive it more. We're running around 16k/yr.

I drive more in Summer because I know longer run errands on an electric scooter. I drive less in Winter because I'm retired now and stay in when it's cold out if I have the choice, barring the occasional bout of Cabin fever. Allowing for that I think I drive a *little* more now because I know I'm not burning gas.

I expect that I drive somewhat less than average because I don't have a daily commute. But I drive the LEAF more than I would if I was still driving an ICE car because the LEAF costs nothing to fuel and the battery is going to degrade whether I use it or not (albeit not quite as quickly). My main mileage cost is tire wear (which is considerable where I live but still a fairly small cost per mile). The first two years I drove the LEAF 7300 and 7500 miles. Last year I drove it 8500 miles because the introduction of a public charge station in my destination city allows me to take a longer route and skip 7 to 14 miles of dirt road.

But to the OPs question, it may well be that those who drive more than average will sometimes choose an EV to save on gas costs. Or even to have a more pleasant driving experience once they actually try an EV and realize what a difference it makes. I've often wondered about that since short range EVs would seem a good fit for drivers who have a short commute or make a lot of short trips, as opposed to long trips that would stretch the range of the car.

Perhaps a lot of EV drivers are like me and make extra trips in the electric car because the cost per mile is so low and the sense of wasting gas is gone. Plus it is fun to drive.

IF in fact owners of EV's do on average drive more than the average for all vehicles I'd like to answer the followup question to determine which is cause and which is effect.

In other words - are those who drive above average simply pre-disposed to buying an EV or does owning an EV result in folks driving more.

I don't think that my overall driving distance/year has changed since purchase of the Leaf. Sure, I take it as much as possible as it is the most fun vehicle I have to drive - the car we replaced was not as preferred. We drive a decent amount with kids activities etc, but my work commute is very short (almost walking distance) so I imagine our overall average is less than others in our area.

armmynissanleaf said:

Read this interesting story titled "Do Nissan LEAF Owners Actually Drive MORE Than Non-EV Owners?"...
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Data on how many electric miles USA BEV/PHEV vehicles drive.

Interesting compilation of INL/AVTA's work collecting data on electric miles driven.

Analysis of Annual Electric Vehicle Miles Traveled (eVMT) in the United States...

Battery Electric Vehicles – Annual Miles Driven on Electricity

To estimate annual non-gasoline miles driven by battery electric vehicles (BEVs) the weighted average of 6,877 Nissan Leafs, Ford Focus Electrics and Honda Fit Electrics

...this data represents a sample of 43.5 million miles of on-road data for BEVs that never use gasoline.

Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles - Annual Miles Driven on Electricity
To estimate annual eVMT by plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) the weighted average of 14,750 Chevrolet Volts, Ford C-max Energi, Honda Accord, and Toyota Prius PHEVs (Figure 1), must be calculated only using eVMT.

...data represents a sample of 40.5 million miles of on-road data...

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LEAF has highest average with 9,697 MPY, with the Fit and Focus close behind.

PHEV distribution is interesting (Volt miles ~74% from the grid, and PIP ~16%) and suggests that even (most) PIP drivers are plugging them in regularly.

http://avt.inl.gov/pdf/phev/PEVandPHEVeVMTforIAHD.pdf

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=18931

I've always driven more than the national average at around 15K a year... It did not change appreciably when I got the Leaf...

armmynissanleaf said:

Read this interesting story titled "Do Nissan LEAF Owners Actually Drive MORE Than Non-EV Owners?" Thought to share with you. What do you think? Do EV drivers drive any more or less than average car drivers?

Click to expand...

Slow1 said:

In other words - are those who drive above average simply pre-disposed to buying an EV or does owning an EV result in folks driving more.

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I'm not sure those are mutually exclusive. ;-) Both could be true..
In my case, I'm an above average driver (mileage wise; quality wise.. depends who you ask.. ;-) ) and leaned towards an EV because of that...

That being said, I was interested in EVs before I drove this much... So maybe it was just a self justification to help me get to what I wanted.. ;-)

Haven't been driving the EV long enough to know whether it will change my driving pattern (hopefully not much more.. I drive enough already I think.. ;-) ).

desiv

Part of the reason for this could be that when there is a LEAF sitting in the garage and you need to take a trip, it offers the cheapest per-mile option. We ALWAYS take the LEAF if it can make the trip, followed by the Honda Civic Hybrid, followed by both together, followed by the minivan followed by the maxivan. As a result, the LEAF gets the lion's share of the miles around here.

That said, I think we probably drive our LEAF fewer miles than the average vehicle, at about 7,700 miles/year.

I bought my leaf to be my daily driver. My commute is 124km round trip so I should be putting on around 29,800km per year. I'll have a level 2 charger at home and at work, once they arrive that is. Right now I'm using the tricklecharger but I am nervous that it might not be able to keep up with my commute. I might have to charge at my dealership on their L2, thankfully they're right on my commute.

I drive more than average about 17,500 miles per year. This is the one of the reason I went with an EV - because I drive more than average, I felt the need to reduce my carbon footprint. However, my mileage has actually dropped a little since move to the Leaf, from approx 19,500 to the current. I think this due to the fact I do less running around on my lunch hour due to slight range limitations. However, I still love my Leaf.

I drive more on electric than I did before.
I travel about the same though.

For example, if we are going to dinner with friends, I'll try to arrange to drive rather than carpooling in an ICE.
Anytime possible, we now take the car (Tesla) on vacation rather than an airplane.

I also find I don't hate rush hour traffic nearly as much as I used to. Not sure if that adds to my miles or just rearranges the timing.

Zythryn said:

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Anytime possible, we now take the car (Tesla) on vacation rather than an airplane.
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That is a really huge difference in carbon emissions :shock:

I personally have been driving less since I got the Leaf. I want to keep my miles as electric as possible and especially when your car doesn't have a QC port, you have to plan things out. No more spontaneous trips (which IMHO is the real range anxiety people speak of when they mention their reluctance to go all-electric even if it meets over 90% of their driving needs). If it's something I can't reach with a couple hours' worth of L2 charging for a round-trip, I just don't go unless I really have to.

Prior to the Leaf I would easily put 15k/year on my cars; now I'm only putting 10k/year on a 12k/year lease. Even with my ICEV and former daily driver as a backup, I'm barely hitting 12k/year total on both cars.