Adding Additional Usage for an Electric Vehicle

How much additional usage will an electric vehicle add to my current usage? We’ll break down the averages with fairly simple math and figure it out so if you’re looking for mathematical breakdowns, this article is for you.

We’ll use the Tesla Model 3 for our breakdown as most other electric vehicles will have a similar result…

There are two Tesla 3 models:

• A standard 50 kWh battery with a 220-mile range
• A long-range 70 kWh battery with a 310-mile range

Let’s go with the bigger battery for our example.

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, the average American drives 13,476 miles per year or 1,123 miles per month.

So, if you drive an average of 1,123 miles per month and the Tesla 3 with the long-range battery can drive 310 miles on a single charge, let’s find out how many full charges you’ll need per month.

1,123 / 310 = 3.6 charges per month

Allowing some wiggle room for battery degradation over time and other variables, let’s put it at even 4 charges per month.

70 kWh battery x 4 charges per month = 280 kWh needed per month

To break it down by day:

280 kWh per month / 30 days in a month = 9.3 kWh needed per day

In conclusion:

Daily usage: 9.3 kWh
Monthly usage: 280 kWh
Annual usage: 3,360 kWh