Battery Electric Vehicle Driving and Charging Behavior Observed Early in The EV Project 2012-01-0199

In 2010, a large-scale plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) infrastructure demonstration was launched to deploy an unprecedented number of PEVs and charging infrastructure. This demonstration, called The EV Project, is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and led by ECOtality North America. ECOtality has partnered with Nissan North America and General Motors to deploy up to 8,300 Nissan LEAF™ battery electric vehicles and Chevrolet Volt extended-range electric vehicles, along with approximately 14,000 AC Level 2 and DC fast-charging units in 18 metropolitan areas across the United States.

ECOtality and the Idaho National Laboratory partnered to collect and analyze electronic data from EV Project vehicles and charging units. An early analysis of data from Nissan LEAFs enrolled in The EV Project was performed. The data set analyzed came from 2,903 privately owned vehicles, which logged over 10 million driving miles in 2011. On average, Nissan LEAF drivers drove 6.9 miles per trip and 30.3 miles per day. Median values were 4.0 and 26.8 miles, respectively. In environments without many public charging locations, LEAF drivers averaged 28.8 miles between consecutive charging events, with a median of 27.1 miles. The average and median number of times vehicles were charged per day driven were 1.05 and 0.99 charging events per day, respectively.

Analysis of charging location determined that 82% of charging events were conducted at the project participants' homes using their residential electric vehicle supply equipment. 18% of charging events were performed elsewhere. Despite the relatively low numbers of publicly available charging units, over 70% of vehicles were charged away from home. Most of those vehicles charged at many distinct locations, such as shopping centers, health clubs, restaurants, and business offices. Some of the most frequently and infrequently charged vehicles were charged exclusively at home or in public, but most supplemented home charging with away-from-home charging.