Electric Vehicle Charging Stations Across America: Mapped
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As the EV market continues to grow, having enough EV charging stations is essential to enable longer ranges and shorter wait times at charging stations.
Currently, the United States has about 140,000 public EV chargers spread across nearly 53,000 charging stations, which still far outnumber the country’s 145,000 gas stations.
This graph maps electric vehicle charging stations in the United States using data from the National Renewable Energy Lab. The map has interactive features when viewed on a computer, showing price structures and connector types when hovering over a charging station, as well as filtering options.
Which states are leading in electric vehicle charging infrastructure?
As shown in the map above, most electric vehicle charging stations in the United States are located on the west and east coasts of the country, while the Midwest strip is quite deserted outside of the state of Colorado. .
California has the most electric vehicle charging stations at 15,182, which represents an impressive 29% of all charging stations in America. In fact, the Golden State has almost double the chargers of the next three states, New York (3,085), Florida (2,858) and Texas (2,419) combined.
| Rank | State | Number of charging stations | Share of charging stations in the United States |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | California | 15,182 | 28.7% |
| 2 | New York | 3,085 | 5.8% |
| 3 | Florida | 2,858 | 5.4% |
| 4 | Texas | 2,419 | 4.6% |
| 5 | Massachusetts | 2,328 | 4.4% |
| 6 | Washington | 1,810 | 3.4% |
| seven | Colorado | 1,718 | 3.2% |
| 8 | Georgia | 1,596 | 3.0% |
| 9 | Maryland | 1,358 | 2.6% |
| ten | Pennsylvania | 1,260 | 2.4% |
| United States Total | 52,889 | 100.0% |
It’s no surprise that the top four states by GDP have the most EV chargers, and California’s significant lead is unsurprising given its ambition to phase out the sale altogether. new gasoline vehicles by 2035.
The best states for EV charging speeds and costs
While it is important to have many charging stations spread across a state, two other factors determine the convenience of charging: Cost and charger level availability.
EV charger pricing structures and availability of charger tiers across the country are a Wild West with no set rules and few clear expectations.
Find Free Electric Vehicle Chargers in Every State
Generous electric vehicle charging stations will offer unlimited free charging or a time cap between 30 minutes and 4 hours of free charging before payment is required. Some electric vehicle charging stations located in parking structures simply require a parking fee, while others may have a flat charging fee per session, billed per kWh consumed, or have an hourly rate.
While California leads in terms of the raw amount of free chargers available in the state, it’s actually the second-worst of the top 10 states when it comes to charger share, with just 11% of them free for 30 minutes or more.
| Rank | State name | Number of free charging stations | Share of free charging stations in the state |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | California | 1,717 | 11.3% |
| 2 | Florida | 673 | 23.6% |
| 3 | New York | 662 | 21.5% |
| 4 | Texas | 606 | 25.1% |
| 5 | Maryland | 399 | 29.4% |
| 6 | Georgia | 360 | 22.6% |
| seven | Washington | 358 | 19.8% |
| 8 | Pennsylvania | 318 | 25.2% |
| 9 | Colorado | 273 | 15.9% |
| ten | Massachusetts | 150 | 6.4% |
| United States Total | 10,295 | 19.5% |
Meanwhile, Maryland leads with nearly 30% of chargers in the state offering a minimum of 30 minutes of free charging. On the other hand, Massachusetts is the stingiest state in the top 10, with only 6% of charging stations (150 in total) in the state offering free charging to EV drivers.
States with best DC fast charger availability
While free EV chargers are great, access to fast chargers can be just as important, depending on how important your time is to you. Most EV drivers in the United States will have access to Level 2 chargers, with more than 86% of charging stations nationwide having Level 2 chargers.
Although level 2 charging (4-10 hours from empty to full charge) beats the snail’s pace of level 1 charging (40-50 hours from empty to full charge), between busy schedules and many charging stations that are only free for the first 30 minutes, the availability of a DC fast charger is almost a necessity.
DC fast chargers can charge an electric vehicle from 80% empty in 20 to 60 minutes, but are currently only available at 12% of US electric vehicle charging stations.
| Rank | State | Number of stations with DC fast charger available | Share of DC fast charging stations available in the state | Share of free and DC fast-charging stations available in the state |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | California | 1,756 | 11.6% | 0.7% |
| 2 | Florida | 360 | 12.6% | 1.1% |
| 3 | Texas | 276 | 11.4% | 1.2% |
| 4 | Colorado | 243 | 14.1% | 1.1% |
| 5 | New York | 234 | 7.6% | 0.8% |
| 6 | Washington | 232 | 12.8% | 1.1% |
| seven | Georgia | 228 | 14.3% | 1.4% |
| 8 | Maryland | 223 | 16.4% | 2.7% |
| 9 | Pennsylvania | 134 | 10.6% | 1.0% |
| ten | Massachusetts | 134 | 5.8% | 0.2% |
| United States Total | 6,540 | 12.4% | 0.9% |
Along with free stations, Maryland tops the top 10 states with the highest share of DC fast chargers at 16%. While Massachusetts was the worst state for DC charger availability at 6%, New York State was the second worst at 8% despite having a large number of chargers overall. All other states in the top 10 have DC chargers available at at least one in 10 charging stations.
As for the holy grail of charging stations, with free charging and the availability of DC fast chargers, nearly 1% of the country’s charging stations are there. So if you’re hoping for free, fast DC charging, the odds in most states are around one in 100.
The Future of Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure in America
As America strives to meet Biden’s goal of having half of all new vehicles sold by 2030 be zero-emission vehicles (battery-electric, plug-in hybrid electric, or battery-electric fuel), charging infrastructure across the country is key to improving accessibility and convenience for drivers.
The Biden administration has given early approval to 35 states’ EV infrastructure plans, giving them access to $900 million in funding under the $5 billion National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) formula program that should be distributed over the next five years.
Alongside this program, a $2.5 billion discretionary grant program aims to increase access to electric vehicle charging in rural, undeserved and overburdened communities, as well as the $3 billion inflation reduction dedicated to supporting access to electric vehicle charging for economically disadvantaged communities.
With more than $10 billion invested in electric vehicle charging infrastructure over the next five years and more than half of that going to communities with low current access, the availability of chargers across America is expected to continue to improve in the years to come.
