Median electric car range increased by 56% over the last 6 years

In the general public, the range on a single charge is still the biggest concern when it comes to electric vehicles. That’s despite the fact that most EVs have enough range to cover their average commute several times over.

A longer range is believed to be key for wider EV adoption and the vehicles offered on the market are certainly going in the right direction with the median all-electric vehicle range growing from 73 miles (117 km) in model year 2011 to 114 miles (183 km) in model year 2017 of EVs available in the US.

That’s from data compiled by the Department of Energy and featured in their “fact of the week” last week.

They wrote:

In model year 2011, there were just three different models of all-electric vehicles (AEV) available and their ranges on a full charge (according to the Environmental Protection Agency) spanned from 63 to 94 miles. By model year 2017, the number of AEV models increased to 15 and the available ranges expanded as well, from a minimum of 58 miles for the smart fortwo Electric Drive Coupe to a maximum of 335 miles for the Tesla Model S 100D. From 2011 to 2017, the median of the AEV ranges increased by 41 miles – from 73 to 114 miles.

Here’s a chart showing the spectrum and median:

Electrek’s Take

That’s certainly an impressive increase over a relatively short period of time, but I think it’s mostly attributable to Tesla and it’s going to be dwarfed by the increase over the next 2 to 4 years.

The results are still negatively affected by a number of compliance EVs on the market. Most of those vehicles have a limited range, but the same automakers making them have since launched EV programs to build electric cars from the ground up with longer all-electric ranges.

As those new vehicles hit the showrooms in high numbers over the next 2 to 4 years, I expect the median to almost double to around 200 miles by the end of the decade.

What do you think? Let us know in the comment section below.