Winston-Salem/Greensboro ranks among least EV-friendly metro areas - Triad Business Journal

Nov 07, 2024

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The Triad ranks near the bottom of large U.S. metros in terms of total EV chargers and EV chargers per resident, according to analysis by iSeeCars.

Sorry, Toyota, but the Triad is one of the least EV-friendly metro areas in the U.S.

The Winston-Salem/Greensboro ranked as the fourth-worst metro area for total number of chargers and ranked as the eighth-worst region in terms of chargers per resident.

That's according to iSeeCars, which analyzed data published by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Alternative Fuels Data Center to determine how U.S. EV charging infrastructure changed from 2022 to 2023. After an analysis of the number of Level 2 and Level 3/DC Fast Chargers, iSeeCar ranked cities and states based on the availability of their EV charging infrastructure, as well as their improvement over the last year.

The analysis comes as Toyota continues to build out its $14 billion plant in Randolph County, where it plans to start producing batteries in 2025 for its electric and hybrid models.

According to the study, the Winston-Salem/Greensboro metro area had 509 chargers at the end of 2023. Only Louisville (412), Birmingham (428) and Milwaukee (455) had fewer. Some of the nation's largest metro areas had the most chargers, with Los Angeles number one at 21,537, followed by San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose (15,874) and New York (8,903) and Boston (6,516).

While the Triad doesn't compare in size to L.A., San Francisco and New York, the region doesn't do much better in the rankings for chargers-per-resident, coming in at 3,157 residents per charger, falling between Indianapoilis (1 per 3,652 residents) and Chicago (1 per 2,865). California metros ranked best in the study, with the San Francisco Bay area ranked No. 1 with 412 residents per charger, followed by San Diego (670), Los Angeles (724), Denver (804) and Boston (915).

The national average is one EV charger for every 1,848 U.S. residents.

Electric vehicle charging infrastructure remains a limiting factor in the transition from gas-power engines to electrified vehicles. Range and charging anxiety are among the biggest challenges for existing EV owners.

Several cities and states have been addressing the issue by investing in more chargers. America’s electric vehicle charging infrastructure grew by 23.9% in 2023, with the total number of Level 2 (240V) and Level 3/Fast Chargers (480V+) rising from 146,337 to 181,270. The number of residents per charger improved by 18.9%, dropping from 2,277 residents for each charger a year ago to 1,848 residents per charger today.

North Carolina was one of the states where the charger-to-resident ratio improved the most in 2023, dropping from one charger for every 3,409 resident in 2022 to one for every 2,490 residents in 2023. The state's 26.8% gain ranked it fifth among all states.

The Charlotte and Raleigh-Durham metros both made big gains in 2023 as well. Charlotte ranked third among all metros with a 32.7% gain in residents-per-charger, dropping from 1 per 3,055 residents to 1 per 2,055 residents. Raleigh-Durham ranked No. 8 with a 28% gain, dropping from 1 charger per 2,418 residents to 1 per 1,741 residents.

Nationally, Level 2 chargers grew by 20.6% last year, while Level 3 chargers grew by almost twice as much, at 37.5%.

“This growth in Level 3 chargers is encouraging because the increasing size of newer electric vehicle battery packs magnifies the need for more Fast Chargers to effectively serve the drivers of those vehicles,” said Karl Brauer, iSeeCars executive analyst.