Nissan Leaf electric car drivers hit 100 million miles mark

Nissan Leaf electric car drivers are keeping pace with Chevy Volt drivers, having covered more than 100 million electric miles, Voelcker writes.

Two weeks ago, we noted that drivers of theChevrolet Volt had covered 100 million electric miles.

What we neglected to note at the time was thatNissan Leaf drivers are keeping pace, having covered more than 100 million electric miles as well.

And it's appropriate to note that total today, just one day after the two-year anniversary of the first Nissan Leaf delivery to take place in the U.S.

As of today, in fact, both cars are comfortably over 100 million electric miles.

The actual number is 113.7 million for Leaf drivers globally, and 106.8 million for drivers of the Chevy Volt range-extended electric car. 

In both cases, those totals only apply to drivers who've given permission for the carmakers to track their mileage through the car's onboard cellular link.

Other electric-miles totals include 29.4 million miles in the global fleet of about 2,500 Tesla Roadsters, and almost 20 million in the growing fleet of Tesla Model S luxury sport sedans.

Fourteen months ago, we noted that electric cars had totaled about 35 million miles on electricity in the U.S. alone. Now it's around 200 million.

And those miles will accumulate at an accelerating rate.

Last year, about 17,500 plug-in cars were sold in the States. This year, the total will be more than 50,000. Next year, the number will be higher yet.

To keep it all in perspective, there are roughly 1 billion vehicles on the planet. So the total electric miles covered by perhaps 100,000 of them are a drop in the bucket.

But those drops will expand over time.

And isn't that how all change happens: one step at a time?