California Expected To Account For 25% Of U.S. EV Sales

Who loves you, electric vehicles? California loves you, that’s who.

The Golden State, with 12 percent of the nation’s population, will account for nearly a quarter of all electric vehicle sales between now and 2020, according to a new report, which says nationwide sales of the plug-ins will hit about 400,000 by the end of the decade.

Lauren De Long, with a Roadster. (image via Plug In America)

Pike Research said Los Angeles/Long Beach, the San Francisco Bay Area, San Jose/Santa Clara, and the Sacramento area will be four of the 10 top markets for EVs. California offers lots of information and strong incentives for people to buy electrics, but there is also a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy to the vehicles’ popularity in California: Because the state is seen as a good market for EVs, manufacturers immediately roll out new models in the state.

“As manufacturers launch new PEV models, the vehicles are not expected to be available equally in all areas, as original equipment manufacturers thus far have made vehicles available initially and in greater numbers in what they view as key markets before moving to nationwide rollouts,” Pike wrote in a statement promoting the report.

Other big markets for electric vehicles during the remainder of the decade: New York, Florida, Texas and Washington.

Hawaii is too small a market to crack that list, but it will actually have the highest penetration rate for plug-in electrics, Pike said. The vehicles can be attractive to islands residents who face higher gas prices than mainlanders, and whose trips are of course generally of short range. The state also offers strong incentives.

Pike said it came up with the projections by analyzing OEM vehicle rollout schedules, population and demographic trends in comparison to early PEV and HEV owner demographic profiles, and survey data on attitudes toward electric vehicles.

In addition to the U.S. projections, Pike also looked at the prospects for EVs in Canada. There, it found that by 2020, 97 percent of EV sales will come in three provinces – Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia – that account for 75 percent of the nation’s population.

earthtechling

4 Comments on "California Expected To Account For 25% Of U.S. EV Sales"

TIKIMAN on Mon, 24th Sep 2012 6:21 pm 



California is full of liberal wacko nut jobs. Where the f*ck do they think the electricity for their precious EV’s will come from?

Natural gas, or coal. Yup! Sure is a clean form of transportation…

Electric cars are a myth.

SOS on Mon, 24th Sep 2012 11:52 pm 



I agree, what a joke, an expensive joke.

Rick on Tue, 25th Sep 2012 12:23 am 



TIKIMAN, nothing wrong with liberals. And btw CA is a pretty conservative state. But the bigger point is EVs are a pipe dream. They do nothing to solve any problem, they only make the myth worse.

Kunslter will tell you that, and I agree with him, Too Much Magic.

Kenz300 on Tue, 25th Sep 2012 4:33 pm 



Every auto maker in the world is bringing out an electric vehicle this year or next.

Many large companies are now adding electric vehicles to their fleets for delivery. Second generation electric vehicles are in development that have improved range and battery technology. When the Prius first was introduced the public, reporters and the media all said it would be a flop. Toyota lost money on the Prius for the first few years. Now the Prius has been expanded into a family of vehicles and are among the best selling vehicles in the world.

Electric vehicles will grow in popularity as the price of oil continues to rise. Stretched family budgets will make believers out of doubters.