Good Vibrations: EVs Thrive Under the California Sun
California has great weather, is known for its car culture, sunny days and lavish lifestyle. It is the home of the Beach Boys, the entertainment industry, as well as EV automakers like Rivian and Tesla. It also has some of the highest gasoline prices in the nation. It’s therefore no wonder that the Golden State slogan is “Eureka!” Now it can also boast the highest number of EV sales and EV chargers in the entire country.
Yes, there are electric vehicles everywhere you look in California, from San Diego to Mount Shasta and all points in between. In fact, there are nearly 50 percent more EV chargers in the state than gasoline pumps. That’s a fact as is the fact that California leads the nation in EV adoption.
From Gas Pumps to Plugs: EV Chargers Now Outnumber Nozzles
These exciting tidbits come from a news release by the office of California Governor Gavin Newsom who recently revealed that according to the California Energy Commission, there are approximately 120,000 gasoline nozzles in the state compared to 178,000 public and shared private EV chargers in California.
California sits well above the national average in EV adoption, taking 54 percent of the EV space in America. EVs made up 22 percent of all new cars sold in the state so far this year. One thing to note is that 162,000 of the 178,000 charges sited here are Level One chargers but that’s okay since the vast majority of EV owners charge their vehicles at home over night. It’s like waking up every day with a full tank of electrons.
Charging access has grown dramatically in California as well, with the number of chargers doubling in 2024 alone and a quarter of all new car sales in the state were electric vehicles.
Governor Newsome was quoted as saying that, “As the federal government works to make it harder for you to charge your electric car, California is doing the opposite.” He is obviously talking about the Trump administration’s efforts to end the federal tax credit on EVs and defund public charging. Meanwhile, California is planning a $1.4 billion investment to expand EV charging. At the same time, the Governor is working to speed up permits needed for the installation of EV chargers throughout the state.
Explore EV lease deals happening now across California ➜
Plans like this and more will be needed if California is to ramp up its goals for zero-emission vehicles. As of this writing, the state is requiring 68 percent of new car sales to be zero-emission vehicles by the year 2030.
