How far can this electric car go on one charge? How close is the next EV charger?
On this World EV Day weekend, the answers to those questions still vary widely from car to car and state to state and could slow the rapid adoption of these cars have seen in the past three years.
That’s not to say U.S. consumers are backing away from electric cars. Their numbers are still small compared with conventional cars, but the International Energy Agency projects U.S. electric vehicles sales could grow this year by more than 60% to 1.6 million, up from an estimated 990,000 in 2022.
And unlike owners of conventional cars and trucks who can rely on years of established infrastructure, EV owners can’t be certain a charging station is available at the next corner − especially considering how charging ports have not kept up with the growth of electric vehicles.
EV auto sales grow faster than EV charging ports
Over the coming years, a successful electric vehicle infrastructure will require a charging point for every eight to 12 electric vehicles, according to SBD Automotive, a global automotive research company.
The ratio of charging points to electric vehicles is a key metric in the HERE-SBD Automotive EV Index developed by SBD and HERE Technologies, a location data company. In 2020, most states were well below the sweet spot for that car-to-charger ratio.
With more EVs hitting the road in the past two years, that balance tipped. In 2022, a dozen states fell into the car-to-charger sweet spot, while another two dozen had 13 vehicles or more for every public charge point, according to HERE’s historical data.
EV vehicle ownership grows past public chargers
That single ratio still falls short of painting a complete picture of the dearth of chargers in states with large numbers of EVs because electric car ownership varies widely across the U.S.
In 2022, 903,600 EVs were registered in California, while 6,200 were registered Iowa. That’s not just because California is a bigger state: Electric cars have been purchased at higher rates on both coasts than in the center of the country. For every 100 square miles in California, there are 580 registered EVs. In Iowa, there are just 11.
If you were to scale the squares above based on cars per square mile, what comes clear is half of the states with the most EVs are falling short on public charging options.
Charge points harder to come by in states with many EVs
New Jersey’s 30 registered EVs for each charging station jumps out as pain point for drivers, but that’s probably just one element of successful development of an EV infrastructure.
Not surprisingly, New Jersey ranks last in the EV index’s metric for cars-to-chargers, but the state lands among the top 12 in the index developed by HERE and SBD. That’s because New Jersey better than most states in three other EV areas:
- EV market share compared to conventional vehicles: 7th
- The ratio of charging points to miles of roads in a state: 9th
- Average power of EV charging stations: 21st
All 50 states and Washington, D.C., are essentially ranked from 0 to 25 on each of the four metrics above. The District of Columbia tops the index and might have lapped a several lower-ranked states if had higher-powered charging stations.
In 2022, Alaska had just 93 charging stations along its 17,681 miles of roads, according to HERE research. That dropped it into the bottom five for both charging-station metrics and ultimately into last place for overall EV infrastructure readiness.
Which states are leading or lagging in EV demand and infrastructure
How many EV charging stations are in your county
The new index is a good place to start when considering an EV purchase or even just a longer trip in an electric car. HERE also has developed a U.S. map that shows how many EV charging stations are in each county.
