Good news for East Coast EV drivers: You’ve got plenty of public chargers to choose from. As for the rest of the country? Well, there’s still some work to do.
That’s according to the third annual EV Index from mapping and location data company HERE Technologies and automotive research firm SBD Automotive, which ranks all 50 US states and Washington, DC, on their EV infrastructure and uptake maturity.
The headline from this year’s report is that “the US is entering the early stages of widespread electric vehicle deployment,” per a news release. However, although “EV infrastructure and adoption improved across all categories,” researchers found that “growth slowed compared to last year as the country faces expiring tax incentives and heightened consumer expectations for infrastructure.”
The rankings are based on four factors: how far drivers have to travel to find a charger, how quickly they can charge, the number of EVs on the road versus ICE vehicles, and the likelihood of finding an unoccupied charger.
This year’s analysis found that the US added 37,000 charging points, up 19% from 2024, and increased total charge power by 52%. But growth was slower than in 2024, when the US had a 32% YoY increase in charge point installations and an 82% jump in total charge power.
The findings highlight “a pivotal moment where infrastructure deployment is falling behind rising EV demand,” according to the release. “Delays and inconsistencies in programs like the NEVI rollout…have led to fragmented access, reinforcing the survey’s finding that the perception of charging availability is the top barrier to adoption.”
Same old problems: For the first time, the report included a survey of 1,000 US drivers. More than half of US respondents said that “the perception of access to charging [was] the top barrier to EV adoption.” They also reported concerns about charging time and battery range, which have been persistent challenges holding back EV adoption.
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“There are a lot of barriers to adoption by people who drive non-electric vehicles,” Robert Fisher, electrification and sustainability principal at SBD, told Tech Brew. “However, once those people do drive an electric vehicle, those barriers begin to disappear quite rapidly.”
Indeed, just 5% of respondents who drive EVs said they wouldn’t drive one again.
But the survey also found resistance among US drivers to try an EV, with some 57% saying they’re likely to buy a gas-powered vehicle next. That compares to just 25% of European respondents. One of the major drivers of this reluctance is price: Nearly one-third of US respondents said they’d choose an EV next if the cost and specs were the same as an ICE vehicle.
The survey also suggested that car dealers could do a better job of educating buyers on EVs; 75% of US respondents said they received “no EV education from the dealer.”
Delaware dominates: Delaware once again topped the index, followed by DC, New Jersey, New York, and Massachusetts. The results suggested “the rise of an East Coast EV corridor,” according to the report.
Kentucky was the most-improved state on the index, jumping from 45th to 28th. The five lowest-ranking states were Nebraska, Minnesota, Arkansas, Idaho, and Alaska.
Only three places on the index had what experts consider an ideal ratio of chargers to EVs: DC, Vermont, and Wyoming.
“As soon as people start to actually experience what an EV is like, those concerns mostly disappear,” Fisher said. “We just have to figure out how to get those consumers into an electric vehicle to actually experience it firsthand.”