The average American living in a one-car household drives about 50 miles per day, according to the Federal Highway Administration (FHA). But the average Ford Mustang Mach-E owner drives 66.
Ford’s Mustang-styled electric SUV turns four years old this month. It finished 2024 as the third-best-selling EV in America and the best-selling EV not built by Tesla. The car’s chief program engineer, Donna Dickson, used the birthday as an excuse to share data on Mach-E drivers with an enthusiast forum dedicated to the vehicle.
Among the data she cited: Mach-E owners travel an average of 66 miles per day. The 2024 version of the car has a range of between 230 and 320 miles, depending on trim level. So some Mach-E models could get the average American through almost seven days of travel without a recharge.
But they rarely do. Ford says 70% of owners charge at home, where they can top off the battery nightly.
The data are interesting in two ways.
For one, they show that the average Mach-E owner worries little about range. Even the FHA’s 50-mile-per-day number is misleading. A small number of Americans who drive immense distances raise the average. The FHA, in its 2022 National Household Travel Survey, found that 93.1% of Americans’ trips are under 31 miles.
Second, they remind us that automakers today collect data on how their cars are used. This has gotten some into trouble — the Federal Trade Commission recently banned General Motors from selling that driver data to insurance companies, a practice some automakers continue despite the FTC’s action.