The Australian Bureau of Statistics has released data showing electric passenger vehicles on average have travelled more than petrol passenger vehicles.
Electric vehicles travelled 11.1 thousand km per vehicle, over taking petrol passenger vehicles which travelled 10.5 thousand km per vehicle.
Victoria saw the furthest total (25 million km) followed by New South Wales with 23.9 million km. the Northern territory came in last having a total of 100 thousand km driven by electric vehicles.
While most of the electric vehicles were driven within capital cities (accounting for 50 million km, or 72.5% of all travel) and urban areas, there was an increase of long-haul trips. An encouraging statistic which reduces the range anxiety often associated with electric vehicles and the corresponding charging infrastructure.
“The claim that EVs will end the weekend can be put to bed. We are seeing them used for those longer-distance trips interstate,” the Electric Vehicle Council’s head of policy, Dr Jake Whitehead said.
“Overall this is very encouraging and demonstrates that Australians are adopting electric vehicles, and that having freedom to travel across the country is being helped by the increase infrastructure.”
Electric vehicles registered in the Australian Capital Territory travelled the furthest on average (12.8 thousand km), followed by Western Australia with an average of 12.6 thousand km.
These statistics relate to the 6 thousand electric passenger vehicles identified by the Motor Vehicle Census in January 2019
Read the full Electric Passenger Vehicle Use Report and the 2019-20 Survey of Motor Vehicle Use (SMVU) for more information.