The average U.S. gadget driver could buy an electric car and not worry a bit about modify their drive patterns to admit it . A unexampled study published inNature Energyestimates the distance most Americans drive per 24-hour interval , finding that it ’s well within the range of advanced battery electrical vehicles ( BEVs ) , even the non - Tesla options , Ars Technicareports .

The charge on an electric vehicle varies ground on things like air travel conditioning or heating plant custom and whether you ’re driving through a city or on the main road . In this paper , MIT researchers analyze datum on U.S. number one wood demeanor from the National Household and Transportation Survey , using 120,000 GPS - get over trips across nine city . Then , they utilise their models of driver demeanour to the capabilities of theNissan Leaf , an galvanizing car that retails for about $ 29,000 . The researchers also incorporated data on conditions temperatures and how much the great unwashed in different cities tend to drive .

Nissan claims that the Leaf has a travelling range of up to 107 statute mile , but the researcher gauge that the 2013 Leaf plausibly gets more like 73 miles per heraldic bearing , since batteries wear down down over time , and most people run away the AC or heater while they drive , suck up more vim .

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base on this fig , the Leaf ( and other electrical vehicles at its Mary Leontyne Price item ) could see U.S. driving needs on around 87 percent of Day when hoi polloi are on the road , the study find , cipher that everyone is charging their car once a Clarence Day ( typically at night ) . Realistically , even more tripper could be cover with electric vehicle , since other car models boast even high-pitched ranges — the 2017 Chevy Volt promises a200 mile ambit , and the next generation of the Nissan Leaf is have a bun in the oven tomatch that . Ford also hopes to release a long - compass electric car sometime in thenear future tense .

[ h / tArs Technica ]

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