Where To Find the Most EVs

Globally, in 2022, close to 1 in 7 of our new cars was electric. As always, though, averages can be misleading. Comparing countries, we see vast differences.

Norway is far ahead for its percent of electric vehicle (EV) buyers while the U.S. is way behind:

Incentives help to explain why Norway’s new car buyers prefer EVs while many in the U.S. do not.

Electric Vehicle Buyers

Norway

During 2017, at econlife, we listed the Norway’s electric car incentives. The perks started at the dealer with a lower purchase price and then included free parking and bus lane access. Perhaps most crucially, they knew to reduce range anxiety with support for charging stations:

From: Norwegian Centre for Transport Research

As a result, buying an EV even became a social norm as it rose to 88% of new car sales in 2022:

The United States

Meanwhile, Pew Research gave us insight about the U.S. consumer’s electric vehicle mindset. In a 2023 report, Pew told us that close to 40% of all Americans are “very” or “somewhat” likely to “seriously consider” an electric vehicle for their next car purchase. (The numbers are actually down from May 2022.)

Charging their vehicles at home, electric vehicle owners do not depend on the charging infrastructure. Those that tried found public chargers can be unavailable and unreliable. Although the federal government has allocated $5 billion for charging stations, most Americans do not expect to have an EV infrastructure:

At 8% of new car sales in 2022, this is the result:

Our Bottom Line: Misleading Statistics

I would be remiss if I did not include the electric vehicle numbers. While Norway’s new buyer share far exceeds the U.S., the actual number of vehicles tells a different story:

But still, we appear to be trending in the right direction. During 2018, sales of non-electric powered cars touched a new high. From there, the numbers descended as electric and hybrid sales numbers rose to 10.2 million in 2022:

My sources and more: Sometimes, happily, when several sources converge, I know it’s time to return to the topic. Today it’s electric vehicles. The sources were Our World In Data, Pew, and our own econlife.