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News: 10 Best States To Own an EV

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Study Ranks Best and Worst Places To Drive Electric

The cost of buying and running an EV varies depending on where you live. That shouldn’t surprise anyone since it parallels what we know about conventional car ownership. What makes having an electric car a positive experience is not only financial aspects, but a functional ones, something the folks at Jerry have taken into account when they did the research behind their Top 10 list of the best states to own an EV. They used the same metrics to derive the 10 worst states.

In addition to financial issues, such as where incentives are available and how much driving electric will save you compared to filling up with gasoline, the deciding factor for ranking the states was the density of available public charging. When the numbers were tallied, states in the East and West Coasts clearly led the way as the best places to go electric. Midwest and southern states fared the worst in the research. The gap between states, particularly on the critical charging issue, was dramatic. Based on Jerry’s research, an EV-friendly state like Vermont has 10 times the charging infrastructure of states on the bottom of the list like Louisiana, Kentucky and Alaska.

The Top 10 states to own an EV are:

  1. Massachusetts
  2. Vermont
  3. California
  4. Hawaii
  5. Rhode Island
  6. Connecticut
  7. New York
  8. Maine
  9. Colorado
  10. Maryland
Charging density map
Where the plugs are

Down at the bottom of the list are:

  1. Alabama
  2. Oklahoma
  3. West Virginia
  4.  Nebraska
  5.  Mississippi
  6.  North Dakota
  7.  Arkansas
  8.  Idaho
  9.  Kentucky
  10.  Louisiana

The ranges of chargers per capita varied from 7.3 per 100,000 residents in Louisiana to 134 per 100,000 in Vermont. When it comes to sheer number of plugs available, California is far ahead of other states with 34,001 plugs installed, more than five times the number at the next state, New York. There’s definitely more work to do to prepare a more comfortable place to drive electric.

Incentives had a similar spread. EV drivers in California, Massachusetts and Maryland could save $8,000 switching to EVs because of about 10 state and local incentives. In contrast, Kentucky, West Virginia, North Dakota and Kansas had no incentives. Most states fell in between, offering a variety of purchase or electricity rate incentives.  

EV Savings
In some states going electric saves you more

Calculating the cost of gas compared to the cost of electricity over the length of car ownership, Jerry found Washington, Oregon and Nevada EV owners would save more than $4,800. That comes from saving more than $2 per gallon, which with average annual mileage driven adds up to more than $600 per year.

Just like they say about real estate, with EVs it’s location, location, location.

Story by Michael Coates. Research by Lakshmi Iyengar. Charts from Jerry.   

Make sure to opt-in to the Clean Fleet Report newsletter (top right of page) to be notified of all new stories and vehicle reviews.

When you’re in the right place to buy, check out the Top 10 EVs

Photo of author

Michael Coates

Michael Coates is the Editor & Publisher of Clean Fleet Report and an internationally recognized expert in the field of automotive environmental issues. He has been an automotive editor and writer for more than three decades. His media experience includes Petersen Publishing (now part of the The Enthusiast Network), the Green Car Journal, trade magazines, newspaper and television news reporting. He currently serves on the board of Western Automotive Journalists and has been an organizer of that group’s Future Cars, Future Technology and Silicon Valley Reinvents the Wheel programs. He also serves as Automotive Editor at Innovation & Tech Today magazine.
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