EV Cruising Ranges
Looking at fuel economy data from the EPA, we can see a clear upwards trend in cruising ranges of EV’s available on the market today. This is good news, as range anxiety…
Looking at fuel economy data from the EPA, we can see a clear upwards trend in cruising ranges of EVs available on the market today. This is good news, as range anxiety is one of the top concerns among Canadian EV drivers and the public at large.
When the EPA started collecting data on EVs in 2011, the average cruising range was 118 kilometres. This year, the average cruising range is 474 kilometres - an increase of 302%.
In the first chart below, weve highlighted one company in particular - Tesla. Back in the 2010s they seemed to have locked up the EV market, but since 2022 it appears some serious challengers have emerged trying to claim their throne.
You may be curious who is leading the pack, it turns out to be a company called Lucid Motors (formerly Atieva). They started out in 2007 building battery technology but pivoted (very successfully it seems) to building cars in 2014, releasing the Lucid Air in 2021. If you hover on one of the points near the top youll be able to see their entries.
The second chart displays the top five car makers based on average cruising range in 2025. An interesting trend that pops out is the meteoric rise of Chevrolet - who wouldve thought! It seems they got serious about EVs around 2017 and have maintained steady progress since then.
As we saw in the first chart, while Tesla initially led the EV market, they now rank fourth by average cruising range.
Finally, leading the pack is Lucid Motors. Although some, including myself, may have never heard of them before, based on the charts, it looks like theyve got a bright future ahead of them.
The report mentioned earlier is based on a CAA survey of Canadian EV drivers. What they found is that the number one issue faced by EV drivers is the loss of cruising range in extremely cold weather.
Canadians have been trying to solve the cold weather issue for hundreds of years, so I think that battle is lost. However, as battery technology improves and cruising ranges continue to increase, my hope is that these weather-related issues become less important over the coming years.