Summary
– Factors such as climate change, convenience, and tax incentives have led to an increase in Americans buying electric vehicles (EVs) in recent years
– The public charging network for EVs has doubled since 2020, but the exponential growth in EV sales may be outpacing the progress of charging infrastructure
– States like California, Florida, and Texas are top places to own an EV, but they rank low in terms of availability of charging stations per registered EVs
– States like North Dakota and Wyoming have infrastructure to support the growth of EVs despite smaller portions of the national EV market
– Federal funding provided by the 2021 infrastructure law will be key to supporting EV development nationwide, with $7.5 billion allocated for developing EV charging stations
Article
The recent surge in interest in electric vehicles (EVs) in the United States can be attributed to factors such as climate change, convenience, and tax incentives. This increased interest has led to a significant growth in the public charging network, with more than double the number of charging stations available since 2020. However, the exponential growth in EV sales over the past five years may be outpacing the progress in charging infrastructure. To assess the accessibility of charging infrastructure to support the growing demand for EVs, ConsumerAffairs analyzed historical data of EV registrations and charging stations across the nation.
States like California, Florida, and Texas are known as top places for owning an EV due to their high overall presence and market growth. However, a ConsumerAffairs analysis reveals that these states rank in the bottom 10 in terms of availability of charging stations per 1,000 registered EVs. On the other hand, states like North Dakota and Wyoming, despite having smaller portions of the current EV national market, have the infrastructure to support the growing demand for EVs. Charging stations tend to be installed before the region starts seeing EV adoption, and the ratio of stations to EVs is higher during this stage.
While the current pace of deployment of charging stations may be sufficient to support current EV drivers, it may not be on track to support the transition into EV driving projected over the next five to 10 years. To address this, the Infrastructure law passed in 2021 provides $7.5 billion for developing EV charging stations nationwide, with a focus on creating a coast-to-coast network of electric vehicle chargers along major federal interstate routes. This federal funding will be key to supporting the development of EV infrastructure across the country.
ConsumerAffairs has ranked the top 10 states for charging your electric vehicle based on the number of charging stations available per 1,000 registered EVs. States like North Dakota, Wyoming, Maine, West Virginia, South Dakota, Rhode Island, Vermont, Kansas, Missouri, and Mississippi are among the top-ranked states in terms of charging infrastructure availability per registered EV. These states have a high ratio of charging stations to EVs, indicating strong infrastructure to support growing demand for EVs.
However, several states, including New Jersey, Nevada, California, Arkansas, Hawaii, Illinois, Florida, Washington, Texas, and Oklahoma, are among the bottom 10 states for charging your electric vehicle based on the availability of charging stations per registered EV. Despite high levels of EV adoption in some of these states, the ratio of charging stations to EVs is below the national average, indicating a need for additional infrastructure development to meet the growing demand for EVs.
While the total number of EVs and charging stations has increased significantly over the past five years, the proportion of charging stations per 1,000 registered EVs has decreased by 21%. This suggests that charging infrastructure has not kept up with the growing demand for EVs. Moving forward, ensuring a reliable public charging network will be crucial for supporting the transition to EV driving for a broader population. In order to meet the estimated demand for public charging stations by 2030, investments in EV charging infrastructure in both the public and private sectors will be essential.
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