by Michael Sivak, Sivak Applied Research

During the pandemic, some workers were (and some still are) able to work from home. Therefore, it is not surprising that in 2020, the first year of the pandemic, the annual miles driven per car or light truck (SUV, pickup truck, or van) decreased substantially. Of more interest is the new finding that this reduction was entirely due to a reduced use of cars as opposed to light trucks. This leads me to assume that telecommuters are more likely to drive a car, while those who do not have the luxury of telecommuting, including many essential workers, are more likely to drive a light truck.

The raw data for this analysis, which come from FHWA, are shown in the first two rows of the table below. They represent the average annual mileage per vehicle.

Overall, from 2019 to 2020, miles driven per light-duty vehicle decreased by 12%. However, the nugget is that while cars were driven less (down 16%), the annual mileage of light trucks stayed about the same (up 1%).

This analysis suggests that telecommuters are more likely to drive a car than a light truck, and that the opposite is the case for non-telecommuters. However, to the extent that some telecommuters do drive a light truck, they push the 2020 mileage of light trucks down. Conversely, to the extent that some non-telecommuters do drive a car, they pull the 2020 mileage of cars up.

Note: FHWA categorizes light-duty vehicles by their wheelbase (with 121 inches being the cut-off), but the two categories approximately correspond to cars and light trucks.

Michael Sivak is the managing director of Sivak Applied Research and the former director of Sustainable Worldwide Transportation at the University of Michigan.