Charging your electric car is getting easier in California
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The number of public electric vehicle chargers in the U.S. doubled over the past four years due to a surge in ownership and government funding under the Biden administration.
Why it matters: There has been a longstanding chicken-and-egg problem with the EV transition: People won't buy an EV unless they have access to chargers, but companies won't invest in chargers without enough EV owners.
By the numbers: There are more than 207,000 publicly available EV charging ports in the U.S. today — up from around 95,000 when Biden took office.
Zoom in: California is among the states with the most chargers, with a total of 18,224 EV charging stations, or about 46.8 EV stations per 100,000 residents.
- Ahead of California, Vermont ranks first with 71.5 and Massachusetts second with 52.7 stations per 100,000 residents.
- There are a total of about 152,300 public and private chargers across California, per its dashboard.
Yes, but: While charging might be getting easier, the U.S. is still far short of the estimated 1.2 million public chargers that will be needed by 2030.
- California is also behind on its goal. The state projects it will need a million public chargers by the end of 2030 to support the expected 7 million EVs on the road — nearly 10 times more than what's available today.
The big picture: The EV transition was a key part of Biden's climate agenda. His policies expanded consumer EV tax credits and manufacturing incentives for carmakers and mandated tougher tailpipe emissions laws to make EVs account for 50% of new car sales by 2030.
State of play: California's EV push has also been crucial to cutting carbon emissions.
- The state was the first to ban the sale of all gas-powered cars by 2035. The landmark regulation is being phased in gradually, beginning with 35% of 2026 models, increasing to 68% in 2030 and reaching 100% in 2035.
- In the second quarter of 2024, EVs made up 25.7% of all new vehicle sales in California — the second highest market share ever recorded in the state.
Reality check: EV sales are growing but are far off the expected pace.
The intrigue: More affordable models could help keep that going — even if President Trump kills the consumer tax credits as expected.
Editor's note: Cox Automotive and Axios are both owned by Cox Enterprises.