r/dataisbeautiful • u/madredditscientist • 12h ago
OC [OC] How far $100 of fuel takes you in America's best-selling cars
Interactive live version with all updates
Sources:
- EPA ratings
- EIA prices: gas and diesel (week of Oct 19), home electricity (August 2026 residential, 18.16¢ a kWh)
- The 25 best-selling models from January to September 2026, from the carmakers' own sales reports, plus the next 5 best-selling EVs and the Prius for comparison. Each row is a version, not a model, so models sold as gas, hybrid, plug-in hybrid or diesel get a row for each. Plug-in hybrids split their miles between battery and gas by EPA's estimate for an owner who charges every night.
Tools: Kadoa for the data, Python, HTML and SVG for the chart. Claude did the car outlines from each model's published length, height and wheelbase.
EDIT:
- Prices vary a lot by state, so I added a state picker to the live version.
- The cities are only a ruler for distance/for scale.
- Added plug-in hybrids and the Prius. At 53 mpg the Prius goes 1,237 miles on $100, just behind the slowest EV (Rivian R1S, 1,278).
- Added a toggle for fast charging vs home charging
- metric units added