The overall use of electricity by light-duty vehicles in the US was for the first time higher than the electricity consumed by rail systems in the country. This is a significant change from previous years, as per the estimate in the Electric Power Monthly report for February 2022 by the US Energy Information Administration.
This update is provided together with the experimental estimations of LDV electricity consumption not included as data from household surveys but calculated using modelling techniques. These estimates contrasted with the consumption data from electric utilities for the end user of the transportation sector, mainly covering the urban transit and regional rail.
The increased number of electric vehicles (EV) thus becomes a very significant reason making it a 16% of the LDV in 2023. This trend is different from the stable outlook of railways in the transportation sector where end-use of electricity has shown an overall increase by about 7,000 GWh since 2003. It is also worth mentioning that very few other types of investments in railways such as municipal railway or electrified passenger rail have been undertaken in the same period.
The annual quarterly electricity consumption as an estimate of the energy consumed by EVs exhibited significant increase with 2023 expecting 7,596 GWh compared to 2018 that registered 1,510 GWh. In 2018 the consumption of BEV’s and PHEV’s was nearly the same but recent years have seen the proliferation of BEV models and a reduction in prices, which has resulted in BEV’s gaining market share. The use of BEVs made of 72% of the electricity consumed by the electric car.
Nevertheless, it should be emphasized that the estimates revolve around modeling methodologies and thus might be erroneous by the model error which the Energy Department is continuously evaluating. This is in addition to releasing these estimates to seek feedbacks from respondents by e-mail an the usefulness or otherwise of any potential application of the data; the particular methodologies used in the estimates; or suggested improvements that can be made.
California in particular is a powerful figure as it consumes about 85% of LDV electricity use in the contiguous portion of the Pacific Census Division. Based on the consumers’ population of 38 million, coupled with the highest number of EVs in the state, California was ranked as the highest EV electricity consumer in 2023. For instance, 9% of the national total is in Georgia while the total in Florida is 6%.