American drivers are turning on to EV and hybrid power, but the switch isn’t happening at the same rate all over the country. A new study has revealed which states are wasting no time in making the change to greener cars, and which are clinging on to the combustion power they know and still love. And the results might surprise you.
The data crunched by iSeeCars shows that the market share for electric and hybrid vehicles in the U.S. grew by 85.3 percent between 2018 and 2023, which is almost three times the growth experienced between 2017 and 2022, illustrating just how fast things have moved even in the last year. But some states have witnessed growth levels many times greater than the average, and others as little as half the average rate.
Let’s look at the pro-electric states first. The first thing that may surprise you is that not only does California fail to top the table, it doesn’t even make it into the top 10. First place goes to Alaska, which has experienced a 272.1 percent change in alternative fuel share in the past five years, followed by West Virginia with 200.9 percent and Colorado on 184.9 percent. New Jersey (169.4 percent) and Louisiana (152.9 percent) round out the top five.
Related: Global Electric Vehicle Sales To Soar By 35% To Over 14 Million This Year Predicts New Study
When it comes to alternative fuel share in the car market it’s Colorado that comes up trumps at 6.1 percent, comfortably more than the national average of 4.1 percent, though still making it clear how far EVs and hybrids are still behind plain old combustion vehicles when it comes to sales.
Shifting our attention to the other end of the spectrum we can see that Hawaii has experienced the slowest growth in EV and hybrid takeup in the last five years, recording only a 43.7 percent change. That’s followed by Oregon on 47.8 percent, New Mexico with 53.1 percent, then Vermont (also with 53.1 percent) and California (63.5 percent). Louisiana stands out because alternative fuel vehicles account for a tiny 1.5 percent of sales, the lowest of any state.
But it’s interesting to note that Oregon, California and Washington are ranked in the bottom six for growth, yet are the three biggest states for overall alternative fuel share. ISeeCars analyst Karl Brauer suggests that “there may be a market threshold for alternative fuel vehicle share, above which it gets much more difficult to grow.”
