Why Electric Cars Are Increasing In The US? An ultimate guide 2024

In the past few years if you have noticed electric vehicles have become common. But do you want to know why electric cars are increasing in the US?

The reasons for more electric vehicles on the road than ever are government incentives, reduced cost of the electric vehicles, their increased usability, long term benefit of electric vehicles. The main reason why electric vehicles are increasing in the US also includes the increased demand.

Electric Cars Are Increasing In The US cause the US has identified the importance of electric vehicles, and the government provides efforts and incentives for electric car buyers, there are long-term benefits of electric vehicles, electric vehicles are improving and adopting new technologies, zero-emission goals of the United States, the public image of electric vehicles became better.

6 Reasons Why Electric Cars are Increasing in the US?

1. The US Have Identified the Importance of Electric Vehicles

Electric vehicles are popular in the market. If you see at the data, there is hardly any doubt that Electric Vehicles are the future. A few years ago there were no electric vehicles on the road. Only a few people had them.

Now there are a lot of electric vehicles on the road. Millions of electric vehicles are sold each year. Various states in the US have a higher number of registered electric vehicles as compared to the same period a year ago. California is one of the states in the united states with the highest number of registered electric vehicles.

Electric vehicles are the future as there is a lot of push toward e-mobility. The governments are focusing on environment-friendly, emission-free electric vehicles.

There are several incentives given to customers and automakers for electric vehicles. The automakers, traditional automakers are also focusing on the production of electric vehicles in the US.

The increasing sales of electric vehicles are proof that this is happening. Though there are still gaps somewhere, it looks like Electric vehicles are the future.

2. Government Efforts and Incentives

The automakers are motivated to produce more Electric Vehicles as the federal tax credits are implemented. The federal tax credits are said to be a strategy to compete with china in the EV market. American Automakers are trying to qualify for federal tax credits.

Federal tax credits are seen as an opportunity by automakers and thus they are betting on the steps such as cheaper electric vehicles.

These tax credits will benefit the automakers and the EV market ultimately.  

Credits of $7500 can lead to increased sales of electric vehicles. Still, the path is not easy. The non-American automakers are demanding that government should give an equitable amount of importance to their employees in the US too.

3. The long-term benefit of the electric vehicles

Electric vehicles are expensive to buy. Especially as compared to ICE vehicles. Electric vehicles are said to be expensive because the batteries that they use are expensive. Batteries are responsible for 30 to 40 percent of the cost of electric vehicles.

Recently GM’s Chevrolet equinox announced that it is going to launch the electric vehicle at the price near the gasoline vehicles, with similar features.

We can say that electric vehicles are going to be cheaper, and they can come with similar features at the same price. Still, the fact that electric vehicles are expensive cannot be denied.

But in the long term, electric vehicles are cheaper than conventional combustion engine vehicles. Also, the cost of electric car batteries is decreasing with time. This is further reducing the cost of electric vehicles. Parallel there is battery swapping technology rising. Which reduces the cost of electric vehicles by almost $10000.

• Electric vehicles are cheaper to drive than the Gasoline vehicles

A study done in 2018 states that avg. cost of driving an electric car was $485 a year as compared to gas-powered vehicles which were $1117. The same study compared the cost of refueling a gasoline vehicle and the cost to charge an electric vehicle.

Here is the table showing the cost to fuel a gasoline vehicle vs the cost to charge an electric vehicle, on yearly basis, from data available at Forbes.

State	Cost to fuel Gasoline Vehicle (yearly)	Cost to charge Electric vehicle (Yearly)
Hawaii	$1509	$1106
Alabama	$993	$481
Washington	$1338	$372

Also, the consumer report study 2020 states that electric vehicle drivers spend about 60 percent less than gas-powered electric vehicles, reports NRDC.

Also, electric vehicles are cheaper to maintain because there are fewer moving parts, and no need to change the internal parts from time to time which gasoline vehicles do need. The customer always tries to shift which is easy, and affordable to his pocket. This is another reason why there are more electric vehicles on the road.

4. Electric Vehicles are improving and adopting new technologies.

As time is going forward, there are several improvements in electric vehicle technologies. Due to improved technology, it is now easy to buy an electric car, and use it, at an affordable price.

Ultimately electric automakers are trying to fit their car in the market, in such an order that consumers feel it easy to drive them, buy them, and maintain them. The batteries are getting improved. They are trying to include smaller lithium-ion batteries, trying to improve the range of electric vehicles.

There are several inventions like cobalt-free batteries, also lithium-ion battery size is getting improved by inventions such as tesla tabless batteries.

The upgradation of the charging networks is making users charge electric vehicles like fuel stations. They can charge electric vehicles at home. The charging speeds are also getting optimized to some levels.

Everything is needed, EV sector is adopting. The improved technologies signal to customers how their lifestyle can be elevated with the electrical vehicles and how they are better than gasoline vehicles.

This drives more volume of buyers to electric vehicles. This is another reason why there are more electric vehicles on the road in the united states.

5. Zero emission goal of the United States

As part of the zero-emission goal, automakers and countries are focusing on increasing the number of electric vehicles on the road. The unites states are also on that path. In August, President announced the executive orders intending to make half of the new vehicles to be electric by 2030.

New York also joined the zero-emission goal with the new law which aims that all the new models will be zero emission models till 2035, reports Reuters.

California is going to halt the sales of new gasoline-powered passenger cars and trucks by the year 2035, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced. He also pointed to cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 35%.

As part of this policy, automakers have decided to produce more electric vehicles. BMW is to make half of its new vehicles electric, by 2030 worldwide. The United States also holds a part of it.

The world’s top leader company in the electric vehicle market, tesla is based in California. The push toward electric vehicles is a zero-emission goal. And the buyers are also part of this goal.

More and more electric vehicles are getting produced and more they are getting sold. This is another reason why there are more electric vehicles on road in the united states than ever.

6. The public image of Electric Vehicles became Better

Apart from the data and numbers, another convincing reason for the increased adoption of electric vehicles by people is that they prefer electric vehicles rather than gasoline vehicles.

Electric vehicles are considered new technology, more environmentally friendly, and more like a status symbol. Electric vehicles are considered to enhance the lifestyle of people.

While gasoline vehicles are becoming an older technology in people’s minds. Also, people get the satisfaction that they are contributing to a better environment by adopting electric vehicles. So this environment-friendly image of electric cars is something that cannot be ruled out.

So overall it can be said that the more electric vehicles seen on the roads of the United States are not a coincidence, But several reasons are behind it. Electric vehicles are rising in the US because of the cumulative effect of government policies, automaker’s goals, prices of vehicles, and the positive image of electric vehicles in public.  

The data also states that. In the united states, the total number of units of electric vehicles sold in the united states was 196800 in Quarter 2 of the year 2022. Which is around 66.4% more than a year ago.

The electric vehicle market is not small and is going to expand in the future. Coming to the question that why there are more electric vehicles on the road than ever? Here we try to answer, what led to the increased number of electric vehicles in the unites states.

There are several reasons such as the government incentives, reduced cost of the electric vehicles, their increased usability, long term benefit of electric vehicles.

The Growth of EV Segment| Past, Present, and Future of Electric Vehicles

Here we collected the data from authentic and trusted sources such as Statista, Forbes, CNBC, EVinsider, etc., and tried to foundation our point that there are more electric vehicles on the roads of the United States than ever. Here is the data from the past, present, and future projections of the electric vehicle market in Unites states.

As per Statista, The electric vehicles sold in the united states in the second Quarter of the year 2022 was 196800 in number. The electric vehicles sold in Quarter 2 (Q2) in 2021 were 173561. The rise in sales is around 66.4%. Also, the sales of Q2 2022 are higher than the sales of Q1 2022.

In the Below graph, you can see the growth in electric vehicle sales in the United States. The data is taken from Statista and the below graph is created by Electric Car Experience, for better understanding.  

The global market of electric vehicles is expanding and it is said to touch 1.4 US trillion dollars in 2027.

Though the EV market is growing, the number of sales in the US is growing, in comparison to China, the U.S. is still behind. In 2020 Chinese customers bought over 1.3 million plug-in EVs while American customers bought plug-in EVs around 328000 in the same period. China has recorded a 155% growth in EV sales in 2021.

By 2030, 1 in 4 new cars sold will be electric. The market share of electric cars is projected to reach 80% by 2050.

This shows that the electric vehicle market is going to expand worldwide, and can capture a large market share in the auto industry.

Statewide Data of the Electric Vehicles Registered in the United States

Here is state-wise data on the electric vehicles registered in the united states. Here we tried to interpret data from the most recent timelines available. Have a look at it.

Norway took the attention of the EV manufacturers, as it had more than half of the new vehicles registered as electric vehicles, in the first half of 2021. The most popular electric vehicle in Norway was Audi-e-Tron and the second best-selling car model was Tesla Model 3 vehicle.

The data of each state of the US for registered electric vehicles, states that California is the state with the highest electric vehicle registration in 2020.

California holds first place with 425300 registered electric vehicles. Florida has 58160 registered electric vehicles while texas comes third with 52190 registered electric vehicles.

This table shows the number of registered vehicle units in some states of the United States in 2020.

State	Registered electric vehicles
California	425300
Florida	58160
Texas	52190
Washington	50520
New York	32590
New Jersey	30420

Various Types of Electric Vehicles

When it comes to electric vehicles, most people think about electric cars only. But electric vehicles include all the vehicles that run on electric power. This can include electric buses, electric bikes, electric scooters, electric cars, electric vans, etc. But when they are classified, they can be classified into 3 types.

Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs), Plug-in Electric Vehicles (PHEVs), and Mid-Hybrid Electric Vehicles(HEVs).

• Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs) :

Battery Electric vehicles are considered fully electric vehicles. Battery Electric Vehicles do not have any internal combustion engine (ICE). Rather they run fully on electric power.

• Plug-in Electric Vehicles (PHEVs)

Plug-in electric vehicles have an internal combustion engine. They use an onboard electric vehicle motor to propel the vehicle. They are made up for increasing fuel efficiency and reducing tailpipe emissions.

• Mid-Hybrid Electric Cars (MHEVs)

Mid-Hybrid Cars have both Internal Combustion engines (ICE) and electric motors.

Challenges in the Growth of the Electric Vehicle Market

The increasing sales of electric vehicles worldwide and the expanding market of electric vehicles are not hidden. The global market of electric vehicles is expanding and it is said to touch 1.4 US trillion dollars in 2027.

China is leading the game. But still, it can be anyone’s race. The united states are far behind china in the electric vehicles segment.

According to a report, fully electric cars were 2.3% of the united states of the total sales. While in Europe it is 6.3% and in china, it is 7.9%.

That is why there are several efforts are being taken to grow the electric vehicle market in the united states. Though the largest automakers are from the united states, the battery suppliers are from china. There are several challenges the united states need to address and work on, to take the lead in electric vehicles.

1. The Distribution of EV Chargers

The rising demand would require more chargers. The unites states have several states with an adequate amount of electric vehicle chargers, but not all. The United States is set to have 500,000 new electric vehicle chargers by 2030 to keep up with the demand, reports CNN.

But the placement of those chargers will be critical. As the number of electric vehicles varies from state to state, the requirement for electric chargers will not be the same.

The charging stations should have four charging ports, within not more than 50 miles of the distance. And it should be able to support the charging at 150kWh. These chargers will charge electric vehicles within 30 minutes. The states which fulfill these requirements will qualify for federal funding.

California is planning to build around 250,000 public and shared private chargers by the year 2025, and also estimated the need for 1.2 million chargers by 2030 for light-duty electric vehicles and 157,000 more chargers for medium and heavy-duty trucks.

States like Florida, Dakotas, and Mississippi have fewer chargers than the other states. The reasons are either they have fewer electric vehicles registered or they lack funds. So this gap needs to be filled. The distribution of the chargers is critical thing and is considered the challenge.

• Best states for electric vehicle charging in the United States

We have the data on the number of electric chargers in each state, but states with the most chargers for electric vehicles are not the best states for electric vehicle charging.

The best states can be decided on the presence of the electric chargers per vehicle, and their distance from each other. This means, for example, if a state has 1 charger for 1 electric vehicle then it is considered as good, while if a state has 1 electric vehicle charger for 40 electric vehicles, then it is not a good choice.

State-wise cost of electric vehicle charging. Also, the state with 2 electric chargers at a distance of 2 miles, and the other has 2 electric chargers at a distance of 10 miles, the former is better than the latter.

Here is data from US Today, which shows the electric vehicle ratio to the electric vehicle charging station. This means the number of electric vehicles per charging station. The state which has the best electric vehicles per charging station ratio is surprisingly North Dakota.

North Dakota has a ratio of registered vehicles to electric charging stations of 3.18 electric cars to 1 charging station in the country.  It has 220 registered vehicles and 69 charging stations. Another state following north Dakota is Wyoming. It has 330 registered electric vehicles and 61 charging stations for electric vehicles. Means. 5.40 electric vehicles per electric vehicle charging station.

And the third state is Rhode Island, with 6.24 electric vehicles per electric vehicle charging station. The top states for electric vehicle charging in the united states include North Dakota. Wyoming, South Dakota, Rhode Island, Missouri, Kansas, Vermont, and Mississippi.

The pattern here can be seen that these are all less populated and less registered electric vehicle states. While those states have a higher number of electric vehicles, are down on this list.

Here is the table showing the Number of electric vehicles per electric vehicle charging station in some states of the united states.

State	Number of Registered Electric Vehicles	Number of charging stations	Registered electric vehicles per electric vehicle charging station
North Dakota	220	69	3.18
Wyoming	330	61	5.40
Rhode Island	1580	253	6.24

2. The Buying Cost of Electric vehicles

Though most electric vehicles are getting affordable, they are still expensive to buy. The cost of electric vehicles is more than that of normal gasoline vehicles. Electric car batteries contribute 30 to 40 percent of the cost of electric vehicles. The average cost of an electric battery in the US is $128 per kWh.

This is not something that looks affordable. Battery swapping can be an alternative, as it can reduce the cost of the electric vehicle by $10000. But currently, this technology is active in china only, and US automakers don’t look interested in it.

The resources used for lithium-ion batteries such as lithium, cobalt, and nickel are under the control of china mostly. So china is deciding the prices. US federal tax credits are supposed to motivate automakers to assemble the batteries in the US only.

The cost of batteries and electric vehicles is also a challenge.  

3. The Question about the safety of the electric vehicles

Electric vehicles contain lithium-ion batteries. The lithium-ion batteries explosion incidence has been reported. If you haven’t read, there are several recalls by the top automakers from the US.  

A lithium-ion battery explosion is reported rarely but they are highly popularized and there is a raising question over the safety of electric vehicles.

Due to the risk of fire due to the chance of debris in batteries, BMW initiated a recall in September in the unites states. This involves the 10 BMW and mini plug-in hybrid models.

Also recently, Hyundai announced 75000 Kona electric SUVs to be recalled worldwide, while 6700 among them are in the US. The reason said here is the reports of vehicles catching fire while parking.

The spontaneous battery fires in Chevrolet Bolt EVs led to an investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Though chances of an explosion are one in 12 million electric vehicles. Still, the high popularisation of the fires in electric vehicle batteries can impact heavily on the adoption of electric vehicles, especially when the market is growing.

If electric vehicles get the image as unsafe vehicles by the public then sales will automatically go down. Thus assuring that electric vehicles are safe and making the batteries safer and safer is something that needs to be done. The challenge here is to tell users how to handle vehicles correctly, what to do in an emergency, and also message that they are same as the gasoline vehicles.

4. Usability and Charging Times of Electric Vehicles

Electric vehicles need at least a charging time of 15-30 minutes with fast chargers. While gasoline-powered vehicles have the advantage that they can be just refueled within the minutes. The normal vehicles need to be charged overnight.

The various factors responsible for that are price, ease, and safety issues. Gasoline vehicles are easier for people to buy as they are easy to refill, they are easily available, and cheaper and there is proper awareness about them. 

The charging time and the range it gives in that time is also a factor that is responsible for the adoption of electric vehicles. The convenience of the user of electric vehicles is also deciding factor.

Battery swapping can be an alternative as experts say. Reducing the charging times is another challenge in increasing the number of electric vehicles on the road.  

Conclusion

The electric vehicle market is expanding. The sales are increasing. And in the future electric vehicles are going to be more common. There are more electric vehicles on the road than ever in the united states.

The united states have the world’s top electric car company, it has implemented federal tax credits, and some announcements have also been announced for electric vehicle growth.

California to completely stop production of gasoline vehicles till 2030. The reasons why electric vehicles are rising in the united states are the efforts of automakers, governments, zero emission goals, increased demand for electric vehicles, awareness about electric vehicles, and the benefits of electric vehicles over gasoline vehicles.

Still, there are several challenges to the growing electric vehicles market in the united states such as the electric chargers network distribution, competition, safety of the electric vehicles, cost reduction in electric vehicles, etc.  

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