Best Electric Vehicles Cities — ChargePoint’s Refreshing Ranking

Originally published on EV Obsession.

I’m a big fan of ranking… just like the rest of you. However, I generally hate that most rankings are presented in absolute terms rather than relative terms. For example, there are many rankings of the “best electric car cities” based on the total number of electric cars, total number of public electric car charging stations, etc. Much better would be if these cities we ranked based on electric cars per capita or electric car charging stations per capita.

Luckily, ChargePoint gets that. ChargePoint is the company with the nation’s largest electric vehicle charging station network. On Friday, it released a ranking of the best electric vehicle (EV) cities “based on the number of EVs owned as well as the number of public charging stations available on the ChargePoint network,” and it made sure to calibrate those with population! ChargePoint, I love you.

First, here’s the quick snapshot of the best electric car cities in the US:

Here’s more info from ChargePoint:

“While Los Angeles has the most number of EV drivers (over 17,000), based on population differences, San Francisco Bay Area with nearly 15,000 EV drivers led the nation, followed by Honolulu and Seattle. When it comes to EV charging stations, San Francisco Bay Area also led the way both cumulatively and based on population with nearly 4,000 stations, and equating for population, Austin and Seattle followed.”

“We are witnessing historic growth in the electric vehicle market,” said Pasquale Romano, CEO of ChargePoint. “The cities and the businesses in those communities that invest in EV infrastructure, not surprisingly, also see the largest sales in electric vehicles. We are no longer debating if EVs have a future, but instead are witnessing cities across America compete to be the most EV friendly.”

Indeed, 100% electric car sales grew 447.95% January–September 2013 compared to January–September 2012. That’s big. A number of states just last week teamed up in an effort to dramatically increase the number of electric vehicles on their roads. You’ve got to be a little slow to think that electric cars are not the future of the automobile.

Thanks to ChargePoint for this latest ranking. And thanks to the following cities for their promotion of clean, electric vehicles:

1. San Francisco
2. Seattle
3. San Diego
4. Austin
5. Honolulu
6. Los Angeles
7. Portland (Oregon)
8. Detroit
9. Washington, DC
10. Boston