If you’re thinking about buying an electric vehicle (EV), where you live could make all the difference.
A recent report from Storage Cafe shows which U.S. cities are better suited for EVs and their owners.
Which Cities Are the Most Electric Vehicle-Friendly?
The report, which scored locales on a 100-point scale, looked at 100 of the most populous U.S. metro areas and analyzed the following factors:
- EV Adoption: how EV-friendly the metropolitan area is and how well the city works with state and federal entities to nurture the spread of EVs
- EV Infrastructure: how much of the area’s resources are allocated to EVs including the prevalence of public and residential charging stations
- Environment: how well the region is promoting sustainable living as well as the share of public transit vehicles powered by renewable energy
You may wonder why some cities rank high in some areas and low in others. Anca Pavel, a Storage Cafe communications specialist, says the rankings are based on a combined weighted score where EV adoption (number of EVs) and EV infrastructure carry the greatest weight.
“For instance, San Francisco, our second-best metro area for electric cars overall, is second for EV adoption and 12th for the environment,” Pavel told me. “Bumping it up high in the overall [rankings] is its high score on EV adoption. This carries the most weight as it signifies that an area will allow an even easier adoption from now on since it already responds so well to what car owners seek in a vehicle.”
These Are the Best Cities for Electric Cars
| Rank / Metro Area | EV Adoption | EV Infrastructure | Environment |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA | 3 | 18 | 7 |
| 2. San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley, CA | 2 | 31 | 12 |
| 3. Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA | 8 | 5 | 3 |
| 4. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA | 1 | 38 | 42 |
| 5. Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV | 6 | 16 | 14 |
| 6. Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Alpharetta, GA | 10 | 3 | 47 |
| 7. Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ | 7 | 24 | 52 |
| 8 San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA | 5 | 38 | 59 |
| 9. Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA | 13 | 10 | 1 |
| 10. Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA | 9 | 45 | 33 |
Read the complete report from Storage Cafe.
Money expert Clark Howard is a big fan of EVs. He has owned a Tesla for several years and loves it.
“Once you have an electric vehicle, I can tell you that it’s much, much, much more fun to drive than a gas engine vehicle,” Clark says. “The range is getting better and better and the new high-end Tesla goes 500 miles on a charge.”
As for buying an EV yourself, Clark says, “The electric vehicle market and what you buy depends so much on how many miles you’re driving per day.”
“If you’re driving a relatively small number of miles a day, then you can go way back in model years … but if you drive a more moderate number of miles per day, you want to look at … maybe a 2015 to 2017 used vehicle purchase.”
More Car Resources From Clark.com:
