47 states fail to meet the ideal ratio of chargers to EVs, report says

Nearly every state fails to meet the optimal ratio of chargers to electric vehicles, according to a new report.

While the optimal number of public electric vehicle chargers varies from one state to the next because of uneven EV adoption nationwide, 47 states fall short of their target ratios.

Only the District of Columbia and three states — Vermont, Massachusetts and Rhode Island — have the prime ratio of EVs to public chargers, according to the report published Sept. 9 by Here Technologies, a location data and technology platform, and SBD Automotive, a global automotive research firm.

The ideal ratio of registered EVs to public Level 2 and fast chargers across the U.S. is nine to 10 EVs per charging plug on average. But each state has its own target ratio based on road networks, population density, rate of EV adoption and the current fleet of EVs.

Many believe that the number of EVs per public charger should decline as EV volume grows, the groups said. But the number of EVs per public charge point should actually increase as the market matures and chargers improve, they said.

The groups' EV Index is based on the evolution of the market and public charging in Europe, said Robert Fisher, electrification and sustainability principal at SBD Automotive.

"The U.S. is, of course, behind Europe when it comes to maturity of the EV market. So it could be that things evolve a little bit differently in the U.S.," Fisher said.

The U.S. public charging map could differ from Europe in the long run because the states have a wide range of population densities, said Ronak Amin, global product marketing manager at Here Technologies.

"Europe has these rural areas, but not maybe quite like the Wyomings and the South Dakotas of the world. So that ratio could be potentially higher in the U.S.," he said.

The U.S. also will likely have more private chargers than Europe, which would reduce pressure on public charging infrastructure, Fisher said.

The private charging variable and fluctuating EV demand leads to the industry's chicken-and-egg conundrum: build chargers and wait for drivers to come, or sell lots of EVs and then build the charging network?

"When more EVs are being sold, if the charging infrastructure doesn't keep up, then more states will miss their ratio," Fisher said. Inversely, "if more chargers are being installed, but not enough EVs are being sold, then you can overshoot your ratio, and that's a problem as well."

Overshooting the ratio hurts charger operators' bottom lines in an already challenging business.

"We are a little bit concerned in some European countries that they've already overshot, and it's becoming too difficult as a business to be a charge point operator," Fisher said. "In the U.S., we don't have that problem yet, but it could become a problem in the future."

The EV-to-charger ratios are part of a broad look at charging across the country. The firms ranked all 50 states and the District of Columbia based on the ratios, along with the distance drivers must travel to find a charger, the speed of charging and the number of EVs on the road compared with gasoline-powered vehicles.

Delaware soared to the top of the overall ranking, up from 15th place a year earlier. Growth in high-power charging and an increase in EV sales drove Delaware's progress, according to the study. Washington, D.C., which was the top scorer last year, moved to second place. Massachusetts and Nevada tied for third.

Idaho, Arkansas and Alaska made up the bottom three.

The EV Index shows both the progress of charging infrastructure and the challenges the EV market continues to face.

The number of public chargers grew by a third since last year's study amid private and public charging infrastructure investments.

Delaware, Tennessee, Louisiana, Texas and Indiana increased their charger count the most on a percentage basis. California added the highest number of chargers, installing more than 6,000 over the last year, Amin said.

The National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program, which launched more than two years ago, was designed to increase chargers along highways.

The government set aside $5 billion in federal funds to build out a nationwide charging network over five years. The chargers should be installed at least every 50 miles along major interstates and within one mile of highway exits. The stations must be able to charge four EVs at once, and some states require the sites to have certain features, such as 24-hour amenities and pull-through lanes.

The Joint Office of Energy and Transportation said in May that 33 chargers backed by the program were open in six states.

State-by-state coordination and a series of requirements and approvals have contributed to the slow rollout of federally funded chargers. Some charger operators have delayed deployments until they get the funding, Fisher said.

"We could be seeing a sort of unnatural slowdown in charge point deployment currently because of that NEVI program," he said. "But overall, I do think that when we look back on this in, say 2028, we'll say it was foundational to getting the network up to where it needs to be."

The federal program includes strict reliability requirements, but for now, charger reliability remains an issue.

More than 10 percent of the public chargers in Hawaii, Alaska, West Virginia and Washington, D.C. were out of order when Here and SBD Automotive compiled the index. Hawaii's performance was the worst, with more than a fifth of chargers out of service.

Kansas, Massachusetts, Maine and Nebraska had at least 98 percent of chargers online.

States with the most chargers offline typically started installing them several years ago, and some have aged out, Amin said. Weather and limited access to charger technicians also play a role in poor charger performance in states such as Alaska and Hawaii, he said.

Charging speed was an issue in some areas. Michigan, for example, fell in the overall rankings largely because of a decrease in the average charger power there.

The National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program and other initiatives focus on fast chargers, which can take 20 minutes to restore power to 80 percent and are typically used when a driver is traveling long distances, and the battery is depleted or won't get the car to the destination. It's often a planned charging stop.

But nearly three-quarters of public charging plugs are Level 2, slower chargers, according to the Department of Energy's Alternative Fuels Data Center. Level 2 chargers, which take several hours to power a battery, are typically used at home or work or to top off during daily activities, such as shopping or dining at a restaurant. Level 2 chargers are significantly less expensive for the charger operator and for drivers, Amin said.

"There's this delicate balance of what needs to be deployed out there," he said. Charger operators are "safeguarding their business. They don't want to put out these really expensive chargers and utilization is low. They're trying to understand the calculus behind that."