According to a recent S&P Global Mobility Special Report, only a handful of coastal states are quickly adopting EVs, and many of the Heartland states are dramatically lagging behind.
Many different news sources, including AutoNews and S&P Global Mobility, have recently been reporting that although the coastal states have been continuing to increase dramatically in EV registrations, the majority of the 22 states that make up the U.S Heartland have not been increasing much at all in the EV market. According to PR Newswire, "The top-eight EV markets in the US are all in coastal states, and represent 50.5% of total EV registrations in 2022. The greater Los Angeles and San Francisco metropolitan areas alone account for nearly one-third of total share of the US EV market." Only a few non-coastal states increased their EV share so far in 2022 vs. 2021, including Colorado, Nevada, and Utah.
EV Growth in Heartland States
Despite previous challenges to the growth of EVs in mid-America, Tom Libby, associate director of Loyalty Solutions and Industry Analysis at S&P Global Mobility, still sees potential for EVs to become more wide spread (PR Newswire). Libby and other industry experts are thinking that many new EVs will soon start to be produced and will evolve into cars more people will prefer. They think that EV popularity will spread into the midwest as they become more easily available, more infrastructure and charging stations are put in place, climate change laws are enacted by Congress, and as they become overall more mainstream (Axios).
EV Overview
The EV market still has a lot of room for growth. As of May of this year, only 4.6% of vehicles registered were listed as EVs, but compared to May in 2021 when that number was 1.9%, that number has more than doubled (Axios). Although many think EVs are an environmentally better option than gas-powered vehicles, there is still some controversy that surrounds around them. Not only are there people in the U.S that disagree with the use of battery-run vehicles, but also some foreign countries are unhappy with the rise of EVs as well. For example, French President Emmanuel Macron said the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) unfairly subsidizes U.S. electric-vehicle production, hurting European companies.
However, even with obstacles and backlash, these vehicles are still increasing in numbers everyday and their growing popularity may still begin to spread from the coastal states to the heartland states.
Sources:
https://www.axios.com/2022/08/01/states-ev-electric-cars
https://www.autonews.com/sales/ev-sales-lag-outside-coasts-us