Only 0.8% of average daily trips in the US in November 2021 were of 100 or more miles in distance, according to data from the U.S. Department of Transportation, Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
And less than 0.1% of average trips were of 500 or more miles of range, which makes sense as that translates to only 1 out of 1,000 daily trips in essence being categorized as a “road trip” — something most US drivers only do a few times per year.
Additionally, 79.9% of daily trips in November were of less than 10 miles in distance. While the average daily VMT (vehicle miles traveled) is generally rated at about 30 miles, only 17.8% of November daily trips were between 10-50 miles.
The Bureau of Transportation Statistics defines a trip as “movements that include a stay of longer than 10 minutes at an anonymized location away from home. Home locations are imputed on a weekly basis. A movement with multiple stays of longer than 10 minutes before returning home is counted as multiple trips. Trips capture travel by all modes of transportation including driving, rail, transit, and air.”
2 Responses
Good to see the definition of a trip is included. A FAR more useful statistic would be the typical multi-leg trip from home to back home during a day timeframe. This information would be quite useful in evaluating the usefulness of an EV for daily use.
I only do a handful of long trips each year. Just because they amount to a small percentage of my trips does not mean they are unimportant. In fact these vacation trips are one of the reasons I suffer through the countless daily commutes to work and back.
When buying my next car, I would not consider buying a car that cannot do these relatively few trips.