Weekly travel covered by single charge of electric car, says Tusker

The majority of electric car drivers could cover their weekly mileage on a single charge, new research from Tusker suggests.

A survey of more than 500 customers by the salary sacrifice provider found that 85% of drivers drove less than 200 miles each week for business and leisure.

The current average range of the 41 electric models (and 230 derivatives) available from Tusker is 231 miles, meaning most drivers getting behind the wheel of an electric car could complete all their weekly travel on a single charge, it says.

The trend was similar when surveying over 1,400 non-Tusker drivers, with 82% admitting to covering less than 200 miles per week, figures which have remained static for two successive years.

Paul Gilshan, Tusker’s CEO, explained: “With the majority of new models offering a range of over 250 miles, drivers are less concerned about range.

“In fact, ‘range anxiety’ has moved to ‘range awareness’ as many drivers realise they can cover their weekly miles on one charge.

“Consequently, 83% of drivers surveyed are now considering an electric car for their next vehicle, a rise from 74% in 2020,” he said.

In Tusker’s survey, less than 7% of drivers said they drove more than 300 miles on average per week, which could be covered by a single charge by a variety of models including the VW ID4, Skoda Enyaq, Audi e-Tron, Hyundai Kona and the Tesla range - according to manufacturer data.

Source:Tusker

The increased range of the latest EVs has also contributed to 63% of drivers saying they were fairly or very interested in considering a zero-emission car on salary sacrifice.

More than one in three respondents to the Tusker survey (69%) said they were aware of the savings available on electric cars when taken on a salary sacrifice scheme, a rise from 57% in the 2020 survey.

Furthermore, one third (33%) say they are now driving an EV compared with 5% in 2020’s survey.

“Salary sacrifice is playing its part in speeding up the move to electric cars for employees across the country,” said Gilshan.

Tusker recently reported that the average CO2 emissions of its new car orders had fallen below 50g/km, with the salary sacrifice provider suggesting that grey fleet drivers were behind the fall. 

The leasing company said it had seen the average emissions fall by 15.5% from 59g/km to 49.8g/km in the first quarter of 2021, as a result of the increasing adoption rates of electric vehicles (EVs).

More than two thirds (69%) of its salary sacrifice order bank at the end of March were for electric and plug-in hybrid cars split 42%/27%.