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A tidbit of 40,000-year-old archaeology news, coupled with a little virtual digging of my own, got me thinking recently that the electric car could soon be back from the dead—this time, for good.

European scientists who had examined the isotopic makeup of an ancient tooth found in Greece announced in February they’d found the first direct evidence that Neanderthals ranged 20 or more kilometers (12-plus miles) over the course of their lifetimes. Previously, some had suggested the dead-end species were nothing but homebodies.

I’m not sure why we should be surprised to learn the Neanderthals got around. After all, our cousins-of-the-prominent-brow presumably could have easily covered such a distance in a day’s walking. Why shouldn’t we assume the Neanderthals traveled at least that far—and more?

Then again, a similar assumption—this one about how far we modern-day humans travel—helped bury the electric car, including the EV1 from General Motors. The car’s ability to go just 80 to 160 kilometers (50 to 100 miles) before needing a recharge put a stake in its battery-powered heart. Drivers just weren’t comfortable with that limited range, GM said in pulling the car from the market.

You can’t argue with that—or can you? If we can profess surprise at learning how much ground the Neanderthals covered then maybe we should brace ourselves to learn how little we do.

I got digging and tracked down the most recent National Household Travel Survey, which provides a lot more detailed data than can any old molar. The latest survey, released in 2004, shows U.S. drivers travel on average just 53 kilometers (33 miles) a day. That’s certainly more than your average Neanderthal covered in day’s shuffle. But it’s clearly less, by a comfortable margin, than what an electric car like the EV1 could cover before it ran out of juice.