DOE: MY 2021 all-electric vehicles had a median driving range about 60% that of gasoline-powered vehicles
18 January 2022
According to the US Department of Energy (DOE) Vehicle Technologies Office (VTO), for the 2021 model year, the median driving range of all-electric vehicles (EV) was 234 miles while the median range for gasoline vehicles was 403 miles.
Although this is a sizeable difference, VTO noted, EV ranges have been increasing rapidly. While the maximum range for any EV offered in the 2021 model year was 405 miles, there are already EV models offered for the 2022 model year achieving a maximum range of more than 500 miles.
As more long range EVs become available, the discrepancy in range between gasoline powered vehicles and EVs is likely to continue to narrow, VTO said.
Median and Maximum Range for Model Year 2021 Vehicles by Fuel Type. Range for EVs is based on Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates for a single charge. Range for gasoline vehicles is based on tank size and EPA combined fuel economy rating.
Please tell us what happens here in the Northeast when it is 15 degrees and snowing and your headlights, cabin heater, wipers are on and you are 20 miles from home and stuck in traffic! Or how long it takes to charge outdoors with no garage and ice and snow?…and cost of a new battery after a few years……
Posted by: William Taylor | 18 January 2022 at 07:21 AM
ICE cars are not immune from your scenario. It happened to me. Atlanta Snow Jam 1982, thousands of cars were stranded on the highway. Fortunately I had a old VW bug that barely made it home after 4 hours.
There are currently 45,000 Charging Stations in the US and growing rapidly. A good read (https://www.epa.gov/greenvehicles/electric-vehicle-myths). Even BP claims their UK-based “BP pulse” network of fast battery charging stations, is nearing the levels of profitability they see from filling up with petrol.
Posted by: Gryf | 18 January 2022 at 08:25 AM
My ICE Kia Optima has a 18.5 gallon tank. I have a Bluetooth OBDII fulltime reader that feeds a Samsung tablet over 100 engine metrics one of them is real time fuel burn directly from the injectors it's accurate to quantities in grams. That said at idle in freezing weather it uses 0.325 gallons per hour with the heater blower fan on high and all the headlights on I just tested this after reading these posts. With a full tank of petrol I could idle for FIFTY THREE hours before running out of fuel that's over two days no EV made by anyone will sit in freezing weather with all it's lights on and cabin heater at full blast while my ICE car will do exactly that for over two days happy as a clam idling along.
Posted by: JamesDo88039200 | 19 January 2022 at 06:16 AM
James, your scenario is so far out of the norm no logical person would purchase a car for that capability.
Also, you car could cause your death from CO poisoning in that scenario (it has happened many times, not hypothetical).
An EV will save an average consumer $17,000 over the life of the vehicle, and several thousand more in maintenance cost savings.
Sensible people buy cars that work in realistic, daily scenarios not extremely rare events they will likely never see in their lifetime.
Otoh, you may need a Hummer EV to survive your post apocalyptic scenario. Good luck.
Posted by: electric-car-insider.com | 19 January 2022 at 10:52 AM
James, You would be better off with a new Ford F-150 EV or the even newer Chevrolet Silverado EV. Either of these vehicles would be much more likely to get you home and then when you did get home and the power is out, which is likely given your scenario, you could just plug the house into you vehicle and power your house for several days instead of sitting around in the cold.
Posted by: sd | 20 January 2022 at 06:39 PM