EV Registration Surge: Which States Are Riding the Wave?

The Electric Revolution Across America

The electric vehicle market exploded in 2023, marking a historic inflection point for automotive transportation in the United States. With 1.2 million EVs sold nationwide—anchored by Tesla’s dominance with 385,900 Model Y units alone—the industry has decisively moved beyond its niche status as a coastal novelty. Today, electric cars are registered across all 50 states, though adoption patterns reveal a starkly divided American landscape.

What’s particularly striking is how dramatically EV registration shares vary by geography. California maintains its fortress position with 903,620 registered electric vehicles representing 2.50 percent of all registered cars in the state. This commanding lead—more than 10 times higher than the national average—underscores the persistent concentration of EV ownership in tech-forward regions.

The Geographic Divide: Leaders and Laggards

Beyond California, a second tier of EV-enthusiast states has emerged. Washington State registers 104,050 electric vehicles at 1.53 percent penetration, while New Jersey follows with 87,030 EVs capturing 1.22 percent of its vehicle fleet. Hawaii and Washington D.C. round out the top-five percent-of-electric-cars leaders with 1.83 percent and 1.85 percent respectively—a testament to environmental consciousness in island and urban markets.

The contrast becomes stark when examining lower-adoption regions. North Dakota represents the EV adoption basement with just 640 registered vehicles comprising a mere 0.08 percent of the state’s vehicles. Mississippi (2,420 EVs at 0.09%), Wyoming (840 at 0.12%), and West Virginia (1,870 at 0.13%) similarly lag far behind, revealing infrastructure gaps and possibly different consumer preferences in these regions.

Emerging Markets Signal Broader Adoption

Between the extremes lies a crucial middle-market story. Arizona, Colorado, and Illinois have each crossed the 59,000-plus EV registration threshold, suggesting that EV adoption is beginning to spread beyond traditional strongholds. Florida’s 167,990 registered electric vehicles demonstrate that warm-climate, aging-population states can sustain substantial EV fleets, contradicting assumptions that electric cars only thrive in progressive coastal metros.

Texas—the nation’s second-largest state by population—registers 149,000 EVs at 0.59 percent. While this represents modest penetration by California standards, the sheer volume suggests that sprawling, traditionally gas-dependent regions are nonetheless integrating electric vehicles into their transportation mix at scale. The percent of electric cars in California may dominate the national narrative, but emerging EV ecosystems in Florida, Texas, and other large population centers indicate the technology’s mainstream trajectory.

What This Means for the Future

The data reveals a simple truth: electric vehicles have transitioned from a California phenomenon to a genuinely national market in nascent form. While leaders like California, Washington, and New Jersey have scaled EV adoption to meaningfully high percentages, lagging states still operate in single-digit territory. This gap suggests enormous runway for growth—and a stark reminder that America’s EV transition remains highly uneven, driven by local infrastructure investments, state incentive policies, and regional economic characteristics rather than uniform national forces.

Data sourced from the Alternative Fuels Data Center, current as of July 2023.