Roanoke area in middle of US EV-friendly metro regions

A new study finds that the number of public electric vehicle chargers in the Roanoke region grew more than 25% last year, placing it close to the middle of the U.S. in being EV-friendly. iSeecars.com looked at the number of chargers in US metro areas and the population of each such region. Then it was easy — do a little math to determine the number of residents for each charger, and of 210 metro areas, Roanoke-Lynchburg came in 118th. More from WFIR’s Evan Jones:

From iSeecars.com:

The latest iSeeCars study identifies which U.S. cities and states are the most and least EV friendly, and which ones have improved the most over the past year. The study analyzes how many chargers are available per resident to determine the cities and states with the best and worst electric vehicle charging access.

• The Roanoke metro area has 340 EV chargers, or 1 charger for every 2,948 residents 

• Virginia state has 4,550 chargers, or 1 charger for every 1,916 residents

• This compares to a national average of 1 charger for every 1,848 residents.

Based on residents per charger:

• The Roanoke metro area ranks #118 out of 210 metro areas for EV friendliness

• Its EV friendliness improved by 25.9% in 2023, which ranks #67 out of 210 metro areas

• Virginia ranks #16 out of all 50 U.S. states for EV friendliness

• Virginia state’s EV-friendliness improved by 21.1% in 2023, which ranks #25 in the U.S.

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