zzdcar
Home
/
Reviews
/
Culture
/
One Study Claims California Isn't The Best State To Own An Electric Car
One Study Claims California Isn't The Best State To Own An Electric Car-September 2024
2024-02-19 EST 22:12:13

Image for article titled One Study Claims California Isn't The Best State To Own An Electric Car

There’s a current public perception that California is the best state in America to own an electric car, and that perception largely comes down to infrastructure. California is equipped to handle a widespread amount of EVs if only because the state has plenty of chargers. But take into consideration other factors of car ownership, one new study alleges, and California has been usurped in the EV game by Washington.

This study comes from , a website that provides vehicle ownership and repair history to anyone that enters their vehicle’s VIN number. In this study, Bumper took into account 10 different metrics of EV buying and ownership to create a broader picture. Five of those metrics were financial:

Number of rebates and tax incentives found in each stateRecharge costAverage price of gasMean travel time to workState cost of an EV versus cost of a gas-powered vehicle

The other five are related to infrastructure:

Number of new charging stations since 2017Number of charging stations per 100,000 populationNumber of EVSE ports per 100 charging stationsNumber of EVSE ports per 100 EV vehicle registrationsEV registrations as a percentage of all motor vehicles in the state

With all those factors considered, the top five best states to own an EV — Washington, Utah, Colorado, Massachusetts, and California — are kind of surprising, in large part because of their order. Most folks likely wouldn’t peg Utah as a bastion of EV ownership, but because of its great financial incentives and cheap charging rates, it ranks well.

The five worst vehicles (starting with the absolute worst) aren’t a surprise: Alaska, Alabama, South Carolina, Mississippi, and South Dakota will need some serious work to make them habitable in an electric future.

Bumper also breaks down data in a variety of ways, so you can check out more specific metrics, like the states with the best financial incentives, those with the best infrastructure, and those with the most EV registration.

That latter metric is a really crucial one. We can talk about how California may not be the best place to own an EV, but right now, it accounts for 41.73 percent of all EV registrations in the United States with 425,000 registered EVs. The next closest state, Florida, accounts for 5.71 percent of all registered EVs in the country with 58,000. And despite the large number of California’s EVs, they only account for 1.36 percent of the total vehicles registered in the state.

(Somehow, there are also more registered EVs in Alaska than there are in Montana, Mississippi, West Virginia, South Dakota, Wyoming, and North Dakota. That’s one hell of a stat.)

We can draw a lot of interesting inferences from the data provided by Bumper. For example, we can talk a lot about EVs and make a big deal about how they’re the future, but we’re still talking about a truly small number of vehicles being sold in America. EV sales aren’t going to overtake ICE sales any time soon — but that’s because they still aren’t attractive prospects from financial or infrastructure standpoints in most states outside of California. This dataset, though, can pinpoint exactly where more work needs to be done.

Comments
Welcome to zzdcar comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
Culture
GM Says It Wasn't In On The Chevy Truck Product Placement At Today's White House Speech
GM Says It Wasn't In On The Chevy Truck Product Placement At Today's White House Speech
President Trump, Vice President Pence, and a few other folks addressed the public on a White House lawn in front of two heavy-duty Chevy Silverados and a crane today. General Motors, apparently, had nothing to do with this. , in particular, has been making the rounds in automotive media...
Sep 17, 2026
Daimler Lost Only $1.9 Billion Nothing To See Here
Daimler Lost Only $1.9 Billion Nothing To See Here
Daimler did better than expected, there’s a purge at Volkswagen, and New York is investing hundreds of millions in electric vehicle infrastructure. All that and more in for July 17, 2020. The company, which produces Mercedes cars in addition to a big truck, bus, and van business, had expected...
Sep 17, 2026
Nissan Is Shrinking At An Alarming Rate
Nissan Is Shrinking At An Alarming Rate
Nissan has and new on its way, but 2020 overall . And while we knew that part of the plan was to back off the volume ambitions of former CEO Carlos Ghosn, by according to a new report it will be a bit more. Reuters spoke to two anonymous...
Sep 17, 2026
Let's Chat About Automotive Wrenching Knowledge Gaps
Let's Chat About Automotive Wrenching Knowledge Gaps
Before we get started with this little garage chat [pull up a rolly stool, grab a beer from the fridge, we’re all friends here] it’s important to know that you don’t have to know how to wrench on anything to be a car enthusiast. It takes all kinds to...
Sep 17, 2026
Dead: Honda Fit
Dead: Honda Fit
The Honda Fit in the U.S., alongside the Civic coupe and the manual Accord. Which has me, a Honda Fit owner, feeling a little emotional, so forgive me when I say get bent, Honda. The Fit will continue to be available overseas. The fourth-generation , and when Honda also...
Sep 17, 2026
NPR Has Lost 25 Percent Of Listeners Now That We Aren't Held Hostage In Our Cars
NPR Has Lost 25 Percent Of Listeners Now That We Aren't Held Hostage In Our Cars
The has killed over 138,000 Americans and sent ripples through even the most mundane aspects of American life, and that includes our daily grinds. So many people are working from home that, without all of us trapped in car commutes, National Public Radio is facing a historic downturn in...
Sep 17, 2026
Copyright 2023-2026 - www.zzdcar.com All Rights Reserved