Arizona Has a Surprising Rate of EV Adoption
Brandon Moore
Oct 14, 2021 · 4 min read
It appears that Arizona is full of surprises. Arizona is one of the cheapest states for car insurance, and now it's one of the top ten states to have the most electric vehicles.
There's just one major hurdle holding it back from having more electric vehicles, however, and it's a problem plaguing most states.
Arizona’s not the only EV state
Arizona is becoming a better place for electric vehicles
Some states have more EVs than others, according to the U.S. Department of Energy Alternative Fuels Data Center. California has the most EVs by far, and will likely be adding more as time goes by. In fact, California has more than double any other state in America. Florida comes in second, with Texas and Washington not far behind.
Arizona made it into the top ten with 28,770 EVs. That places it in seventh place, making it one of the top ten states to go electric. This means about 4 in every 1,000 residents have an EV. That's not much, but Arizona has a plan to increase this number.
Arizona is going green
Seventh place is great. In fact, that's something worth bragging about. Arizona wants to hit 10% EV ownership by 2030, however, according to the Tucson Weekly.
There are a lot of reasons why this could absolutely happen. Arizona is a state that is focused on a healthier environment, so getting people on board is not the issue. Anything that helps the environment is a good thing in the eyes of many Arizona residents.
The fact that EVs are greatly improving also helps. They're now charging faster, the batteries are being improved, and most importantly, the price is slowly coming down. While there are still some EVs, like Tesla, which are too expensive for most drivers, some are just as affordable as a gasoline powered vehicle.
Add in the fact that gas prices are rapidly going up, and at least for the moment, going electric seems like a win-win. There is one problem, however, which is going to take some time in order to fix.
Electric vehicles don’t have enough charge
When looking at the bar graph from the U.S. Department of Energy, some states don't seem to have enough EVs to even rank a bar, like Alaska, Montana, South Dakota, and West Virginia. Many of these states have rural areas that can last hundreds of miles, which makes driving an EV a bit of a challenge because there aren't enough EV charging stations.
This is the problem currently preventing Arizona from rising through the ranks. In an interview with the Tucson Weekly, Jerry Asher, the vice president of the Tucson Electric Vehicle Association, stated that "Arizona is growing by leaps and bounds in major areas, but still struggling out there in the hinterlands."
It's a valid point. The one area that gasoline powered vehicles tops EVs is the convenience of filling up. It takes ten minutes tops to fill up at a gas station. There are also plenty of stations available, so if you are running low on gas, you just drive a block or two down the road and find a station.
EV charging stations aren't like that. Not yet, anyway. While cities tend to offer enough to make it worthwhile, some people living in rural areas have never even seen one. Then there's the fact that charging an EV can take anywhere from 30 minutes to 12 hours. That's a long time to sit at a charging station.
Some stations are now being built at grocery stores and libraries, which helps. It's still not nearly prolific enough to tempt many owners to give up their gasoline powered vehicles, however.
The good news is that there are plenty of incentives to buy an EV. If you're curious about how much money you can save, but don't want to deal with the hassle of doing the research, sign up with Jerry today. We'll do all the hard work, so you can focus on picking out the EV of your dreams.
