Despite the government and auto industry’s push toward electrification, a shocking number of states have underdeveloped charging networks. A recent study from Here Technologies and SBD Automotive found that 47 states are behind on the number of chargers they need to adequately service the electric vehicle population.
Only three states, including Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Vermont, met the criteria. The District of Columbia was also included in that list despite it not being a full-fledged state. The study’s authors said that the ideal ratio of registered electric vehicles to Level 2 and 3 chargers is nine to ten vehicles per plug. That said, they also accounted for population density, EV adoption, and more.
Despite those findings, SBD Automotive’s Robert Fisher said that U.S.-based EV drivers will likely use more private chargers than people in Europe, and the country’s vast size and varying population densities will play a role in how states adapt. “Europe has these rural areas, but not maybe quite like the Wyomings and the South Dakotas of the world. So that ratio could be potentially higher in the U.S.”
Planners and officials still have plenty of work to do, but there’s an opportunity for charging companies to make headway in the less crowded market. Fisher said, “We are a little bit concerned in some European countries that they’ve already overshot, and it’s becoming too difficult as a business to be a charge point operator. In the U.S., we don’t have that problem yet, but it could become a problem in the future.”
[Images: mikeledray, mark reinstein, Roschetzky Photography via Shutterstock]
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