[liuhenry]

US Department of Transporation says the avg. American drives 13.5k miles per year.

Using an average mpg of 21.5 mpg (if the average age of a car is 12 years), this comes to ~628 gallons of gas per year.

EPA uses 33.7 kWh per gallon for ~21,160 kWh in a year. Divide by 360 * 24 and you get 2.5 kW continuous, so it seems plausible.

EU numbers based on [1] come out to ~1 kW for driving?

[1] https://www.odyssee-mure.eu/publications/efficiency-by-secto...

[jcelerier]

> 21.5 mpg

this is more than 11L/100 - I don't know anyone who has a car that consumes that much.

[liuhenry]

Fair - I don't own a car myself, but the US DOT reports 24.4 mpg in 2018 for cars, SUVs, vans, and light trucks shorter than 121 inches. (This is an estimate of vehicles on the road, not 2018 model year.)

If we use a 2020 model year for passenger cars of ~40mpg and a more conservative 11,500 miles per year, it comes out to 1.1kW.

[jeffbee]

> light trucks shorter than 121 inches.

This definition excludes the best-selling vehicle.

[yodelshady]

The Ford F-150 is the highest-selling vehicle in North America.

Also worth noting - the US gallon is smaller than the UK one. And anecdotally, the mileage rating in the US actually tends to represent real-world consumption, whereas the EU test - until very recently - did not.