It's no secret that owning a pure-electric car like a Nissan Leaf or a Tesla Model S is easier in some cities more than others, and not just because of the number of electric sockets.
Chargepoint, the operator of the world's largest EV charging network, has compiled a list of the top ten best locations in the U.S. to own an electric car, based on the number of charging stations and the number of registered electric cars. In order, they are:
1. San Francisco Bay Area, CA
2. Los Angeles, CA
3. Seattle, WA
4. San Diego, CA
5. Honolulu, HI
6. Austin, TX
7. Detroit, MI
8. Atlanta, GA
9. Denver, CO
10. Portland, OR
"Although the West Coast continues to lead the nation in EV friendliness, the fact that cities like Atlanta and Denver broke into the top 10 demonstrates that this is not regional trend, but that our nation is quickly transitioning from gas powered cars to EVs." said ChargePoint CEO Pasquale Romano. "In cities across the country, it’s becoming easier than ever to drive an EV – and that’s good news for our industry and for our environment."
Here are the top ten cities for owning an EV.
Los Angeles led the way with the number of registered EVs -- 57,000 -- but San Francisco still comes in first on the list in per capita EVs, boasting approximately 48,000 registered electric vehicles.
The top five locations are no surprise -- just about everyone could have guessed those with the exception of Honolulu. But then the list gets interesting, with Detroit coming in at number seven. There is one caveat: Chargepoint is only counting its own charging stations when evaluating existing infrastructure. That shouldn't change the equation for the few top cities like San Diego and San Francisco that have traditionally been very EV-friendly, though it does raise the question of whether anyone in the northeast has heard of these newfangled electromobiles? Washington DC and Boston fell out of the top ten for this year -- they held the ninth and tenth spots on last year's list.
Next up, we'd like to see a list of the ten major U.S. cities where owning an EV would be a nightmare.
Jay Ramey grew up around very strange European cars, and instead of seeking out something reliable and comfortable for his own personal use he has been drawn to the more adventurous side of the dependability spectrum. Despite being followed around by French cars for the past decade, he has somehow been able to avoid Citroën ownership, judging them too commonplace, and is currently looking at cars from the former Czechoslovakia. Jay has been with Autoweek since 2013.
