Less than 5% of vehicles are driven over 15,000 miles a year

A recent study of MOT data by net zero data consultancy Field Dynamics has found that only 4.5% of vehicles were driven over 15,000 miles in 2021.

Overall mileage has been consistently dropping year-on-year. In 2021, vehicles in Great Britain have averaged just 5,506 miles annually. This means that 57% of vehicles are consistently travelling less than 100 miles each week.

Field Dynamics created their GB MOT Mileage Report by analysing millions of Class 4 MOT records from the past four years to create a hyper accurate view of average vehicle mileage across England, Scotland and Wales.

Field Dynamics Managing Director, Ben Allan, believes these figures are particularly important to consider when planning electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure: “This annual mileage per vehicle data provides a really valuable insight. Over half the vehicles in Great Britain travel less than 100 miles per week. As most electric vehicles have a range of over 200 miles then this suggest that planning for a once a fortnightly charge could be a good option for most people.”

While the average national mileage is low, the difference between vehicle types is significant and shows the need to differentiate between usage types. The report shows that while a local car such as Ford Fiesta only averages 4,694 miles per year, an Audi A6’s average mileage is 63% higher and a Ford Transit is 101% higher. This suggests the need for focused charging services.

Field Dynamics also found that geographically, vehicles in the North drive 385 miles more per year than vehicles in the South. Greater London has an interesting distribution of vehicle mileage too with the most high milers (5.2% drive over 15,000 miles) and low milers (59% drive under 5,000 miles) compared with all other regions.

Key research findings:

• Average annual mileage per vehicle has fallen year-on-year since 2019, to 5,506 miles per year for 2021
• 4.5% of vehicles are travelling more than 15,000 miles
• 57% of vehicles travel less than 100 miles per week
• 87% of vehicles travel less than 200 miles per week
• 22.7% fewer miles have been driven in 2021 compared with 2019
• There is a significant difference between vehicle types and models. The Ford Fiesta has an average annual mileage of 4,694 miles. Audi A6s have an average annual mileage of 7,642 miles. The Ford Transit Van has an average annual mileage of 9,452 miles

For more information or to download the report, click here.