THE 2024 MILEAGE REPORT: Introduction

Here it is, dummies. It’s the big one: Poor Hartnett’s Almanack of Annual Mileage Reporting, Bird Migration Forecasts, Liniment Formulae & Homeric Fan Fiction, 18th Edition.

LISTEN, ALL DAD WANTED IN LATE 2021 WAS A COMPACT CROSSOVER THAT WOULD SAFELY, EFFICIENTLY, AND EFFORTLESSLY TRANSPORT HIS FAMILY OF FOUR ON REGULAR ROAD TRIPS WITHOUT FUCKING AROUND WITH AN OBSOLETE AND UNCIVILIZED PETROCHEMICALLY FUELED, SPARK-IGNITED INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE.

Our two vehicles in 2024:

• 2022 Tesla Model Y Performance, a battery electric compact crossover with a 80-ish kilowatt hour lithium-ion battery pack that can travel roughly 300 local miles or 250 highway miles on a full charge.
• 2013 Nissan Leaf S, a battery electric compact five-door hatchback with a 24 kilowatt hour lithium-ion battery pack that can travel around 65 miles on a full charge.

How much did charging our cars add to our home electricity use? It accounted for 2.35 MWh out of a total 14.49 MWh, about 16.2 percent.

THE 2024 MILEAGE REPORT: Miles per gallon gasoline equivalent

The top chart shows miles per gallon from mid-2001 through the end of 2024 for all seven cars in the dataset. The other chart focuses only on our current vehicles. We sold the Jetta in September 2012 and the Rio was totaled in an accident in February 2016. Our first 2013 Leaf was totaled in an accident in August 2019, and the nearly identical 2013 Leaf that replaced it was totaled in an accident a mere 34 days later in October 2019. We replaced it with yet another nearly identical 2013 Leaf, so here and throughout the rest of this year’s report all three 2013 Leafs are treated as a single vehicle for the sake of simplicity. We sold the C-Max in February 2022, and picked up the Model Y in March 2022.

Figures for the Jetta and Rio, both old-fashioned gasoline-burning internal-combustion engine cars, were recorded on a per-tank basis. Due to the more frequent, often daily nature of plug-in vehicle charging compared to gas station fill-ups, figures for the Leaf, C-Max, and Model Y are recorded on a weekly basis. Fuel economy for the Leaf, C-Max, and Model Y are shown as miles per gallon gasoline equivalent, or MPGe, an EPA metric that allows the energy consumption of plugin and non-plugin vehicles to be compared. The C-Max’s efficiency figures take into account both electricity and gasoline consumption.

The Model Y’s overall MPGe in 2024 was 125, up 1.4 percent from 2023. The weekly low and high MPGe were 109.8 and 153.2, respectively.

The Leaf’s overall MPGe in 2024 was 142, up 0.9 percent from 2023. The weekly low and high MPGe were 121.3 and 165.1, respectively.

THE 2024 MILEAGE REPORT: Total distance

We drove a total of 14,359.4 miles in 2024, up 46 percent from 2023. The Model Y accounted for 10,630 miles, while we drove the Leaf 3,729.4 miles.

THE 2024 MILEAGE REPORT: Electricity, gasoline, and combined energy consumption

We consumed 4,040 kilowatt hours of electricity and burned 0 gallons of gasoline driving in 2024. Our energy use was up 42 percent on 46 percent more miles driven compared to 2023.

THE 2024 MILEAGE REPORT: Electricity, gasoline, and combined energy costs

We spent a total of $719.30 on automotive electricity in 2024, 53 percent more than 2023 while driving 46 percent more miles. Gasoline costs were $0.00 for 0 gallons. Electricity cost $588.83 for the Model Y and $130.47 for the Leaf. Combined energy cost per mile was $0.05, up 5 percent from 2023.

THE 2024 MILEAGE REPORT: Energy cost per mile

Taking only the price of electricity into account, the Model Y cost $588.83 to operate in 2024, or $0.055 per mile. Electricity for the Leaf cost $130.47, or $0.035 per mile. 

The first chart above shows the complete cost per mile dataset, and the second focuses only on our current vehicles.

THE 2024 MILEAGE REPORT: Miles per day

We drove the Model Y an average of 29.2 miles per day in 2024, and the Leaf 10.2 miles per day. The first chart above shows the complete average daily mileage in the dataset, and the second focuses only on our current-as-of 2024 vehicles. Jetta and Rio averages, in blue and red, are per tank of fuel, while electrified vehicle averages are by week.

THE 2024 MILEAGE REPORT: Electricity by source

We used 2,407.5 kWh of electricity from a single 120-volt outlet in our garage at home in 2024, 59.6 percent of the total. A further 906.7 kWh, or 22.4 percent, came from Tesla Superchargers, while 671.1 kWh were from various free sources, accounting for 16.6 percent of the total. The remaining 55.1 kWh, 1.4 percent, came from assorted other paid sources.

THE 2024 MILEAGE REPORT: Electricity cost by source

In 2024 we spent $351.78 to charge at home, $337.69 fast charging at Tesla Superchargers, and $29.83 at various other charging stations. 

THE 2023 MILEAGE REPORT: Introduction

Here it is, dummies. It’s the big one: Poor Hartnett’s Almanack of Annual Mileage Reporting, Bird Migration Forecasts, Liniment Formulae & Homeric Fan Fiction, 17th Edition.

Our two vehicles in 2023:

• 2022 Tesla Model Y Performance, a battery electric compact crossover with a 75-ish kilowatt hour lithium-ion battery pack that can travel roughly 300 local miles or 250 highway miles on a full charge and accelerate from 0 to 60 mph faster than nearly every production car you’ve ever seen with your own eyeballs and still top 120 MPGe while carrying a family of four and all of their junk on a three-week, 4,400-mile road trip with the AC blasting.
• 2013 Nissan Leaf S, a battery electric compact five-door hatchback with a 24 kilowatt hour lithium-ion battery pack that can travel around 65 miles on a full charge.

How much did charging our cars add to our home electricity use? It accounted for 1.66 MWh out of a total 12.13 MWh, about 13.7 percent.