A Small Percentage of Drivers Burn a Third of the Gas
Serena Aburahma
· 3 min read
International climate change goals have led to gas-powered vehicles slowly
losing popularity to electric vehicles
. Gasoline use in the transport sector contributes to 14% of global greenhouse gas emissions. These reasons are why the next green step has been to shift to electric vehicles
.Surprisingly,
CNET
found that a third of the gasoline consumed in the U.S. is burnt by only 10% of U.S. drivers. A higher proportion of the greenhouse gas emissions is, therefore, released by a minority of drivers. This 10% of drivers consists of drivers of pickup trucks or SUVs. 
Super-users burn a third of gasoline
CNET discovered that gasoline use disproportionately spreads between urban and rural drivers. At a glance, you would expect urban drivers to use more gasoline than their rural counterparts. However, gasoline super users are mostly rural drivers.
These drivers own a pickup truck or an SUV and drive three times more than urban drivers. Rural SUV and pickup truck drivers are only 10% of all drivers, meaning a third of the gasoline used all across the U.S. is burnt by just this 10%.
Abandoning a gas-powered past and moving towards an electric future
Providing resources on the benefits of green energy and alternative options to gas-powered vehicles will help reduce fossil fuel reliance and greenhouse gas emissions. Especially when it comes to this 10% of drivers.
Electric vehicles will help cut down carbon emissions from the transport sector. If the rural drivers alone adopt electric vehicles, gasoline consumption will be reduced by one-third.
Although the adoption of electric vehicles has become quite popular with some EVs even able to
control or even reverse global warming
and climate change, convincing rural drivers to adopt electric vehicles may be an uphill task.Production of electric vehicles
The main challenge of electric vehicles isn’t even getting people to want to shift from their gas-powered vehicles. The reality is, the current rate of production may not meet the demand for electric vehicles if all the drivers were to shift to EVs.
According to the
Washington Post
, China is the biggest producer of EVs and ranks way ahead of the United States. The discrepancies in production levels between the two countries are the manufacture of batteries that power the electric vehicles. China has 93 factories that manufacture lithium-ion batteries, while the US has only four.
How big of an impact can be made by a minority of gas users switching to EVs?
CNET notes that 48% of billions of gallons of gas is consumed by 20% of the drivers of light-duty vehicles. 10% of those 20% drivers (the superusers) are specifically SUV and pickup truck drivers, and of that 48% of billions of gas used, those drivers use 32%.
Light-duty vehicles, therefore, account for 48% of the carbon footprint of the transport sector. A shift to electric cars will cut down the 48% emissions from the transport industry.
However, to achieve total adoption of EVs, EV manufacturers should come up with electric vehicles that appeal to that 20% of drivers. Producing efficient and appealing electric SUVs and pickup trucks is the first step in shifting preference from gasoline-powered cars to EVs.
If you are an SUV or pickup driver, you can cut down on your use of gasoline by adopting an EV. Besides their efficiency, EVs will help cut down fuel expenses and reduce emissions that contribute to global warming and climate change.
