European LEAF owners on average drive 50% more per year than European ICE average
09 January 2015
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| Average miles driven by LEAF owners in European countries, compared to average ICE driver. Data: Nissan. Click to enlarge. |
Based on telemetry data from its CarWings system, Nissan revealed that European owners of the battery-electric LEAF drive more than 50% further per year (10,307 miles, 16,588 km) than the European average for a traditional internal combustion-engined (ICE) vehicle (6,721 miles, 10,816 km).
Totals are based on data from Nissan’s Global Data Center (GDC) as of 30 September 2014. The average is generated form data gathered only from Nissan LEAF vehicles registered with CarWings, approximately 54% of total sales. Data used was gathered from 1 April 2014 to 30 September 2014.
Since the beginning we have said that the Nissan LEAF is much more than just a city car or second car and now we can show the data that proves this. Our customers frequently tell us that they buy the Nissan LEAF as a second car, but end up using it far more than their other vehicle and the information we receive from CarWings reinforces that message.
The customers tell us this is because the car has very low fuel and servicing costs and that along with the smooth, almost silent ride of the Nissan LEAF make it difficult to go back to a diesel or petrol car.
—Jean-Pierre Diernaz, Director of Electric Vehicles for Nissan in Europe
Spanish Nissan LEAF drivers came out on top, covering on average more than 228 miles (367 km) each week, with Swedish drivers in second (211 miles, 340 km) and UK drivers in third with 201 miles (323 km). German LEAF owners drove the least: 173 miles per week (278 km).
Nissan said that according to latest figures, drivers of traditional gasoline or diesel powered cars covered an average of 129 miles (208 km) per week; European LEAF drivers average 198 miles (319 km) per week.
Further data from the automaker indicated that 89% of LEAF drivers charge overnight at home.
Nissan has sold more than 150,000 LEAF vehicles globally, more than 31,000 of which have been sold in Europe.
Not that I hold any grudge against Nissan, but I see several problems with their methodology here.
If I'm understanding correctly, they collect data exclusively during the warm-weather months when people drive more (and EV range is better) and then compare it to a baseline of year-average data.
The sample sizes for some countries can't be terribly impressive either. According to Wikipedia there have been 565 Leafs (Leaves?) sold in Sweden, compared to over 9000 in Norway. Anecdotally I've yet to see one living in Sweden's second largest city.
Posted by: rusti | 09 January 2015 at 03:08 AM
Most new cars drive >50% more than the average of all cars.
Posted by: Thomas Pedersen | 09 January 2015 at 04:40 AM
Most PHEVs having an AER of ~22 miles makes sense with those statistics.
That gives you ~8,000 miles a year, and although as Thomas said new car drivers usually cover more than the fleet average, that is a pretty good chunk out of total miles, and some journeys in a PHEV as opposed to a BEV will be long distance anyway, so the AER won't help much.
Posted by: Davemart | 09 January 2015 at 05:47 AM
Cleantech comments from people who own LEAF cars said they drive it more because it is fun, their other car gets driven less miles .
Posted by: SJC | 10 January 2015 at 09:43 AM
@SJC
It is not just the fun aspect but, certainly with EU fuel duties, the financial incentive to drive electric is very strong. In our family we have a simple rule as to who got dibs on our old Leaf (or new Zoe) - who's driving furthest.
Posted by: Thomas Lankester | 12 January 2015 at 06:21 AM
The driver demographic will be quite narrow, mainly people who commute a regular daily milage that is well within EV range but adds up to high weekly milages and saves a lot in cost on petro-fuels.
Very few people will buy an EV if they do limited milages as the little money saved in fuel will be completely wiped out by depreciation costs. Equally no-one will by an EV if driving patterns include longer even occasional road trips.
So naturally the mileage of Leaf drivers will be more.
That all aside, I think the biggest disincentive about the Leaf is the fact that it is ugly, but maybe that's more to do with the fact that Nissan have got into a bad habit of making ugly cars, likelwise with Renault who have been at it (uglification) for a lot longer. Look at the Juke as a good example or the Renault Vel Satis. The Tesla at least looks quite normal. I see them regularly in my neck of the woods.
Posted by: Scott | 20 January 2015 at 02:19 PM