Top Electric Car States — Which Has The Highest Percentage Of Electric Cars?

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Walking around little towns in the Appalachians this summer, I was happy to see a few refreshing electric cars. In fact, one day in the tiny town of Bryson City, NC, I walked by four electric cars in a small parking lot that only held four cars. This is steep mountain country. How pleasant to find electrics showing brightly at the foothills of the Appalachians. It game me confirmation that folks are catching on to improved forms of transit.

In San Francisco, LA, and San Diego, I expect you’d see a ton of fresh-spirited electric cars spinning around town. However, surprisingly, California comes in third in terms of electric vehicles per total auto sales. It falls behind somewhat further north Washington and progressive Hawaii. Much further behind is New York, “which has one of the highest sales rate in the country, yet ranks 25th in terms of EV market share,” according to Edmunds, which also supplies this interesting chart (top 10 and bottom 10 states in terms of EV market share):

As you can see, this ranking is based on January 2013 to November 2013 sales. Clearly, the top five states — Washington, Hawaii, California, Georgia, and Oregon — are quite a few cars ahead of the rest. Actually, a lot of electric cars available for sale in these markets (or often just in some of these markets) aren’t available in other states. Surely, other states could do much better if auto manufacturers brought their EVs to those other states. They’d also do much better, of course, if they offered incentives like California’s $2,500 EV rebate, Georgia’s $5,000 EV tax credit, Hawaii and California’s HOV lane access, and Washington state’s sales and use tax exemption.

Read more about how to encourage electric car adoption here: Understanding Electric Car Owners & Potential Electric Car Owners (14 Charts & Tables).

For plenty of reasons to buy an electric car, check out: 8 Reasons Electric Cars Kick Your Car’s Boot.

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