Since last year's election, there's been a noticeable push towards an increase in electric vehicles (EV). However, with the need for charging stations to operate effectively and getting all the states onboard, the question is: How realistic is this push?
The nationwide study, published by driving education website Zutobi, looked at how well the different states are doing, which ones have the infrastructure, and how EV take up currently compares to other vehicles.
The study revealed that Vermont is the most equipped state for EVs, offering 768 charging points across the state with 124 charging points per 100,000 vehicles. California came in second with 103.6 charging points per 100,000 vehicles even with their impressive total of 256,800 number of EVs. Utah and Massachusetts tied for third place. Both reporting 66.9 charging points for every 100,000 vehicles in the state.
The study focused on the ratio of charging points per total vehicles in a state to reflect capabilities at scale. To note, this allowed the study to look beyond the ratio of EV charging points to EVs, as while there may be sufficient points currently, this doesn’t always mean they are the best states at scale.
Top 10 states most equipped for EV drivers -
1. Vermont
2. California
3. Utah/Massachusetts
5. Hawaii
6. Maryland
7. Colorado
8. Rhode Island
9. New York
10. Washington
The bottom three states on the list were Louisiana, Alaska, and Alabama. Louisiana offering just 325 charging points for a 8.3 charging points per 100,000 vehicles. Alaska also clocking in only 8.3 per 100,000 vehicles and Alabama with 8.4.
Additionally, the study also reported the best states for the number of EVs on the road verse the total vehicles. California came in first, reporting 256,000 EVs and a total of 30,795,000 vehicles. Hawaii is second with 6,590 EVs on the road and a total of 1.3 million vehicles.
The study is based on data collected from the U.S. Department of Energy's Alternative Fuel Station Counts by State and Electric Vehicle Registrations by State reports as well as the U.S. Department of Transportation's State Motor-Vehicle Registrations 2017.
