All across rural America, folks are starting to realize that it’s them – not city-dwellers – who stand to benefit the most from EVs!
California has historically led the charge (sorry) of EV adoption, with densely populated cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco leading the way. At first glance, that seems to make sense – after all, urbanites don’t drive as far as rural drivers do, they have better access to public infrastructure, and tend to make more money than their country cousins.
That’s just the first glance, though. Once you start putting some real thought behind it, you start to realize that that doesn’t make sense at all – and it’s actually rural drivers who stand to benefit the most from the advantages of electric vehicles.
Think about it. Rural drivers have to travel greater distances to get to the places they need to go – from home to work to school to shopping – and when gas prices go up, those trips get more expensive. Switching to electric would save rural drivers much more money than city-dwellers, and even the most affordable EVs out there offer more than 200 miles of range and DC fast chargers.
What’s more, city-dwellers are far more likely to live in multi-family buildings, limiting their access to at-home charging. With single-family homes being more the norm in rural areas, access to charging – even “slow” 110/Level 1 charging – is much more ubiquitous.
Despite that sort of common-sense thinking, the growth of EV interest in the flyover states still surprises some industry observers. “You expect to see strong hybrid and electric vehicle sales in states like California, Oregon and Washington, or in cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles, or Seattle,” says Karl Brauer, an analyst with iSeeCars. “While those areas do have the highest percentage of alternative fuel vehicles, the areas with the greatest growth in hybrid and electric vehicle share come from states and cities few would expect.”
We’ve been saying stuff like that for years, though, so we weren’t the least bit surprised when a recent study showed that Mississippi is leading America’s EV adoption growth, according to iSeeCars. The state showed a 242 percent increase in demand for EVs and hybrids since 2014, with other rural states like Utah, Wyoming, and Texas finding their way into the Top 10 as well.
Alt. Fuel & Electric Vehicle Market Share by State
One thing that did surprise us, though, was that California – which is still the volume leader by miles – was only 9th in EV adoption growth since 2014. Looking at the top cities, rather than states, similarly shows just two Golden State cities making the top 10.
You can check that out for yourself, below, then let us know what you think about the growth of EV adoption in rural America in the comments section at the bottom of the page.
Alt. Fuel & Electric Vehicle Market Share by City
SOURCE | IMAGES: iSEECARS, VIA INSIDEEVS.
