Electric cars start covering more ground than combustion counterparts

In Norway, battery-electric vehicles now drive more miles annually on average than cars running purely on gasoline or diesel.

Using an EV more in times of high gasoline prices is to be expected, but one of the open questions in the industry has been whether EV drivers will consistently cover more miles on average than gas or diesel car owners.

In many countries it’s difficult to get a clear read, mostly because EVs are still a very small share of the total number of cars on the road. But to get a hint of where things may head, we can turn to Norway. The latest data released from the nation’s statistical agency shows battery-electric vehicles now drive more miles annually on average than cars running purely on gasoline or diesel. Average distance traveled by the latter two car segments has fallen steadily the last 15 years.

This is remarkable. It highlights the growing capability of the latest EV models, and also has implications for what happens to oil demand from road transport. The amount of oil displaced by EVs depends on how fast we switch over the number of kilometers or miles traveled to electric, not the number of cars.