It's getting easier to find EV charging stations in Georgia

It's getting easier for Georgia electric vehicle owners to locate public charging stations.

By the numbers: There are 21 charging stations per 100,000 residents in Georgia, and almost 2,326 charging stations in total, according to federal data.

The big picture: There are more than 207,000 publicly available EV charging ports in the U.S. today — up from around 95,000 when former President Biden took office in January 2021.

• That figure tracks with what former U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm told a House committee last May. Republicans earlier had complained about delays.
• The total includes 38,000 new chargers — both DC fast-chargers and slower, Level 2 chargers — that were turned on in 2024, according to the federal Joint Office of Energy and Transportation.

State of play: EVs and charging have been a chicken-and-egg problem that's now getting a little easier.

• People won't buy an EV unless they're confident they have somewhere to charge it.
• Companies won't invest in charging infrastructure without enough EV owners to plug in.

Between the lines: Charging may be getting easier, but the U.S. is still far short of the estimated 1.2 million public chargers that a National Renewable Energy Laboratory report says will be needed by 2030 to support expected EV sales.

Zoom out: Spurring a switch from gasoline-powered cars to battery-electric vehicles had been a key part of Biden's climate agenda.

• He pushed a variety of policies — consumer EV tax credits, manufacturing incentives for carmakers, and tougher tailpipe emissions laws — with the intent to make EVs account for 50% of new car sales by 2030.
• He also targeted 500,000 public chargers by 2030 — a goal supported, in part, by $7.5 billion allocated by Congress under the bipartisan infrastructure act.

Reality check: EV sales are growing, but they are far off the expected pace.

• Only 8.1% of new car sales in 2024 were EVs, according to Cox Automotive. Still, that's a record 1.3 million EVs sold.
• Momentum was stronger in the second half of the year, with EVs accounting for 8.7% of new car sales.
• A flood of new, more affordable models could help keep that going — even if President Trump kills the consumer tax credits as expected.

What we're watching: Spurring a switch from gasoline-powered to battery-electric vehicles was a key part of former President Biden's climate agenda.

• But President Trump issued an executive order last month rolling back Biden's EV goals, and potentially halting federal funding for building out EV charging infrastructure.

Go deeper: Metro Atlanta homebuyers want EV chargers at home