Electric vehicles have just surpassed the energy consumption of rails, which was once the largest electricity consumer in the US transportation sector.
EVs becomes largest electricity consumer in the US transport sector
According to the US Energy Information Administration’s Electric Power Monthly, light-duty electric vehicles consumed more electricity than rail systems for the first time in 2023.
The agency estimates that plug-in hybrid and battery-electric vehicles consumed a total of 7,596 GWh of electricity in 2023, representing a 44.6% increase. According to the report, this represents an almost fivefold increase from the consumption in 2018.
The report indicated that EV sales in the US have surged in recent years, accounting for 16% of all LDVs sold in 2023. BEVs reportedly consumed 72% of the total electricity used by electric vehicles.
Rails’ annual electricity consumption
Railways’ annual energy consumption has long been the biggest electricity end-use category in the domestic transportation sector, published in EIA’s Electric Power Monthly since 2003.
It has been stable for the previous two decades, hitting an average of around 7,000 gigawatt-hours (GWh) in 2023. As you can notice, it indicates a notable disparity from EVs’ total consumption of 7,596 GWh in the same period.
About the analysis
The EIA started releasing its electric vehicle consumption estimates at the national, regional, and state levels in 2018.
It utilizes models as a basis rather than traditional surveys, noting that the former are “subject to model error, which we are trying to understand better.”
“We recently started publishing experimental estimates for LDV electricity consumption, which are not collected on our traditional surveys but are derived using a model.”
EIA
The agency compares the estimates with consumption data from electric utilities that disclose the transportation sector end-use, almost exclusively comprised of municipal and regional rail systems.
According to research by Jefferies analysts, electric vehicle sales grew 2.6% year-on-year to 120,000 units in April 2024. Therefore, the sudden increase in their electricity consumption is no longer surprising.
