Transportation

Report: San Jose, San Francisco tops for electric car drivers

Electric cars

The Bay Area is very friendly to electric vehicles, according to a new study by STORAGE Cafe.

In order to identify the best-equipped metro areas for electric vehicles, researchers compared the United States' 100 largest metropolitan areas.

The analysis was based on 14 metrics, including the number of registered electric vehicles, EV infrastructure, the cost of an eGallon, among other factors.

Here are key findings about the Bay Area:

  • The San Jose's metro area is the nation's ultimate electric car hotspot. Palo Alto in particular serves as the hotbed of eco-friendly driving. San Jose claims not only the third-highest number of EVs in the country (approx. 74,000 electric cars), but also the third-largest number of EV charging stations (approx. 1,550), 
  • San Francisco's metro area ranks second in the country for its number of electric cars (over 122,000 vehicles). The area has more than 2,500 public charging stations and second only to San Jose, with about 1.5 chargers/1,000 households.
  • The San Francisco metro area is also the fifth most EV-friendly place for renters – about 7% of units in apartment buildings (15,600+ units) provide their residents with access to EV charging stations.
  • The San Francisco metro area has the second largest share of lane mileage dedicated to electric cars in the country – about 15% of its total length of freeway lanes, namely, 290 miles of HOV lanes.
  • A clean energy-powered public transit system pushes the San Francisco metropolitan area to the 12th spot for environmentally-friendly transit infrastructure as 32% of the public transport in the area runs on clean fuel.

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