Plenty of research — from sources like GE and Deloitte, to name a few — has shown that “range anxiety,” or the fear of running out of battery charge in the middle of the road, is one of the biggest factors scaring consumers away from electric vehicles (EVs).
But while current battery technology might not meet everyone’s needs, it may surprise you how many millions of commuters stand to benefit from EV adoption right now.
Here is a ranking of the Top 10 American cities that are best set-up for EV adoption by large numbers of commuters.
The city best positioned to go EV? Dallas, followed by Houston and Detroit. St. Louis ranked fourth, and Atlanta fifth.
How Rankings Were Calculated
Using data from the American Community Survey, a U.S. Census Bureau database, we looked at commuting habits for the 25 largest U.S. metro areas for the population within 50 miles of the city center, based on data collected in 2009. We ranked cities in equal parts by how many commuters lived within a 50-mile radius of the city center and what percentage of commuters drive to work already — as those are the cities with infrastructure currently set up to handle car commuters.
In Dallas, 2.7 million commuters live within 50 miles of the city center, and 91.5 percent of commuters currently drive to work.
In Houston, there are 2.4 million commuters within 50 miles of downtown and 90 percent are already driving to work. Detroit, though slightly less populous when it comes to commuters (1.65 million) has the most drive-centric commuter base in the country at 92.5 percent.
For the rest of the Top Ten, check out the infographic below:
 Click to enlarge. |
Learn more in these GE Reports stories:
* “Will the Cost of Electric Cars Come Down? We Asked A123”
* “Drive an EV, Slash the CO2”
* “How Far Will Your EV Go? It Depends How Fast You Charge It”
* “The Real State of Electric Vehicles in a Billion-Car World”
* “GE unveils residential WattStation EV charger”
