Metro Areas by Electric Vehicle(EV) Share of New Auto Registrations, 2023-2024

[dimondpark]

Interesting.

Metro Areas by Electric Vehicle(EV) Share of New Auto Registrations, 2023-2024:
40.1%-San Jose
34.5%-San Francisco
23.0%-San Diego
22.8%-Los Angeles
20.3%-Sacramento
19.7%-Seattle
14.0%-Denver
12.2%-Washington DC
11.1%-Austin
10.6%-Phoenix
9.1%--New York
9.0%--Atlanta
8.6%--Miami
8.6%--Raleigh
8.2%--Chicago
8.0%--Boston
8.0%--Dallas
7.6%--Philadelphia
6.6%--Tampa
6.3%--Minneapolis
6.3%--Houston
3.9%--San Antonio

Source: S&P Global Mobility

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/...e-popular.html

[hipster duck]

Yes, the EV presence is very noticeable when you drive into California from a place like Nevada. It's not just a shit-ton more Tesla Model Ys and 3s, you begin to see some of the EVs that are rare everywhere else, like Lucid Airs and the much-panned Fisker Ocean.

[homebucket]

Not too surprising. California is/was the epicenter of the rEVolution, has the highest incomes to allow for early adoption, has the space/autocentric built form/car culture to accommodate implement home and public charging networks, ideal weather for EVs, etc.

What's more eye opening, but yet not surprising, is the low adoption rates for Texas.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by homebucket

Not too surprising. California is/was the epicenter of the rEVolution, has the highest incomes to allow for early adoption, has the space/autocentric built form/car culture to accommodate implement home and public charging networks, ideal weather for EVs, etc.

The bolded is a big one.

One of the most frequent things you'll hear in Chicago regarding EVs is "I'm not gonna gamble on a full EV until they can sort out the cold weather battery issues."

My family will likely be due for a new car sometime in the next 5 years. We'll most likely go hybrid because winter.

[homebucket]

Originally Posted by hipster duck

Yes, the EV presence is very noticeable when you drive into California from a place like Nevada. It's not just a shit-ton more Tesla Model Ys and 3s, you begin to see some of the EVs that are rare everywhere else, like Lucid Airs and the much-panned Fisker Ocean.

Yeah, most of the obscure EVs can be found in California, including Vinfast. I used to see Fisker Oceans fairly often although I haven't seen one for awhile, which isn't too surprising given they just went bankrupt. I'm guessing their cars are no longer working. We've also had Rivians (and Rivian Amazon delivery vans) around for a couple years now, which I was surprised to hear just recently starting arriving in Canada. It's also common to see prototypes around, like Nio (Chinese EV brand) and the upcoming Rivian R2/R3 have been spotted as well.

[sopas ej]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

The bolded is a big one.

It's been said that the weather in California is what helped the state's early adoption of automobiles, period---back in the days when cars were open, literally were "horseless carriages," the weather was conducive to such contraptions.

We also don't have rust issues like in other parts of the US, so you'll see Camrys and Accords from the 1980s-1990s still running around. Funny, you don't see Ford Probes from the same period... I don't even remember the last time I saw a Ford Probe.

[hipster duck]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

The bolded is a big one.

One of the most frequent things you'll hear in Chicago regarding EVs is "I'm not gonna gamble on a full EV until they can sort out the cold weather battery issues."

I'm not sure how big a deal this is. Over 20% of new car registrations in Quebec, which probably has harsher winters than Chicago, are EVs.

[sopas ej]

Originally Posted by homebucket

What's more eye opening, but yet not surprising, is the low adoption rates for Texas.

When you consider Texas' unreliable deregulated sources of electricity, maybe it shouldn't be so surprising.

[cabasse]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

The bolded is a big one.

One of the most frequent things you'll hear in Chicago regarding EVs is "I'm not gonna gamble on a full EV until they can sort out the cold weather battery issues."

My family will likely be due for a new car sometime in the next 5 years. We'll most likely go hybrid because winter.

its less of an issue than you might think - oslo is colder than chicago but norway as a whole has something like 80% of all new vehicle sales as EVs.

https://www.wri.org/insights/countri...hicles-fastest

range does decrease somewhat in the cold, and i'd imagine you have to charge more (and probably try to keep the battery topped off) - cities ought to install more on-street charging, especially where people are typically parking on street. (level 2 charging stations don't really require much at all, no dedicated transformer or DC inverters, it's basically just a 220v connection straight to the car)


https://www.evcandi.com/feature/over...ey-ev-rollouts

[jaxg8r1]

Strange that Portland is not listed (don't have a NY Times subscription so can't deep dive). But back in early 2023 the numbers for Portland metro were already over 18%) and growing....

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by cabasse

- oslo is colder than chicago but norway as a whole has something like 80% of all new vehicle sales as EVs.

Despite the latitude difference, Chicago is actually a bit colder than Oslo during the winter.

But still cool that Norway is at 80%.

Even if the cold weather battery issues are overstated, they've still contributed to slower EV adoption in cold winter US cities vs. California. People in the Bay Area and Socal have never had to wake up to a -10 January morning.

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by jaxg8r1

Strange that Portland is not listed (don't have a NY Times subscription so can't deep dive). But back in early 2023 the numbers for Portland metro were already over 18%) and growing....

Portland is on the list and is roughly in the 18-20% range.

[iheartthed]

I think charging is an even bigger issue than weather for mass adoption of EVs. Hertz went all in on adding Teslas to their rental fleet a couple of years ago and it turned out to be a huge flop. Customers actively avoided them because of the logistics for recharging vehicles.

[Innsertnamehere]

The nature of car rentals also have customers making much more mileage intensive use of vehicles than a typical user.

I think vehicle rentals will be one of the last sectors to convert.

[homebucket]

I rented a Tesla from Hertz last year (not sure if they officially axed the program now) for a trip in SD (needed a car to get around). And it was actually quite nice. Compared to a comparable ICE rental car, it was a similar rate, and we had an Airbnb so didn't worry about finding charging, and so it was overall much cheaper since we saved on gas (in CA, gas is extremely expensive). It was in excellent condition, and easy to get in and start driving. Overall, I enjoyed it a lot more than your typical Nissan, Kia/Hyundai, Chevy rental car. Hopefully Hertz is still keeping Teslas or some other EVs around for certain markets. I think there's still a good use case there.

[TWAK]

Originally Posted by homebucket

Not too surprising. California is/was the epicenter of the rEVolution, has the highest incomes to allow for early adoption, has the space/autocentric built form/car culture to accommodate implement home and public charging networks, ideal weather for EVs, etc.

What's more eye opening, but yet not surprising, is the low adoption rates for Texas.

They put up a bunch of chargers in the 90s including the town I grew up in and I never saw it used . Like other areas it was placed at the local park n ride.

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by Innsertnamehere

The nature of car rentals also have customers making much more mileage intensive use of vehicles than a typical user.

Definitely, but it also demonstrates a huge flaw that affects people beyond car renters. There's a similar issue for car owners in dense cities like NYC. How do you keep cars charged if you live in a city like New York? Some people that live in brownstones run extension cords to the street to charge their cars, but that will largely not be an option for most drivers here.

[JManc]

Originally Posted by homebucket

Not too surprising. California is/was the epicenter of the rEVolution, has the highest incomes to allow for early adoption, has the space/autocentric built form/car culture to accommodate implement home and public charging networks, ideal weather for EVs, etc.

What's more eye opening, but yet not surprising, is the low adoption rates for Texas.

Infrastructure here is negligible. You can literally go anywhere in the Bay Area or LA and find a charger; work, store, restaurant, etc. They are far and few between in Texas outside some of the more granola areas in the cities.

[Gantz]

Originally Posted by cabasse

its less of an issue than you might think - oslo is colder than chicago but norway as a whole has something like 80% of all new vehicle sales as EVs.

Norway is a small country and Oslo is practically a village. People there drive like 5 miles on average, I don't think they have range anxiety.

[Gantz]

Originally Posted by sopas ej

When you consider Texas' unreliable deregulated sources of electricity, maybe it shouldn't be so surprising.

Is California grid really that much more reliable compared to Texas?
Texas outages get on national news, but California literally has scheduled power outages (as far as I know, the only state that does it).
Even as I type this post, Pacific Gas & Electric and Southern California Edison both have power outages. This is a pot/kettle situation in my opinion, as CA is not exactly known for a reliable grid either.