U.S.: West Coast Had Highest Plug-In Electric Car Sales Per Capita

U.S. plug-in electric car sales vary heavily depending on a particular state, but not only that. It also varies highly per capita.

According to the U.S. DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy report, based on data for the year 2018, the highest number of plug-in electric cars per capita is in California - almost 12 per 1,000 people.

In general, the West Coast stands out from the pack, but what caught our attention is that there are tons of states where plug-ins are not taking-off. The nationwide average is 3.08 plug-ins/1,000 people.

Highest plug-in vehicle registrations per capita as of 2018:

• California - 11.96 / 1,000 people
• Hawaii - 6.41 / 1,000 people
• Washington- 5.83 / 1,000 people
• Oregon- 5.17 / 1,000 people

In total, 16 states exceeded 2.0 plug-ins/1,000 people, but 13 had less than one per 1,000.

We wonder how much the numbers improved over the past two years (2019 and 2020). It will for sure take quite some time to electrify the fleet.

More sales reports

2020 U.S. Electric Car Sales: Tesla Captures 80% Of BEV Market

California: Plug-Ins Capture Over 8% Of The Market In 2020

Note: PEV includes both all-electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid-electric vehicles.

Sources: PEV registrations – U.S. Department of Energy analysis of IHS Automotive data. Population – U.S. Census Bureau, Population Estimates, Annual Estimates of the Resident Population.

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Insideevs.com?

Take our 3 minute survey.

- The InsideEVs team