page_title: Plug-in electric vehicles in the United States
section_title: Plug-in Electric Vehicle Readiness Index
hierarchical_section_title: Plug-in electric vehicles in the United States / Plug-in Electric Vehicle Readiness Index
caption_attribution_description: English: BMW i3 charging at Portland Electric Avenue, Portland, Oregon
context_page_description: The adoption of plug-in electric vehicles in the United States is supported by the American federal government, and several states and local governments. As of December 2019, cumulative sales in the U.S. totaled 1.45 million highway legal plug-in electric cars since 2010. The American stock represented 20% of the global plug-in car fleet in use by the end of 2019, and the U.S. had the world's third largest stock of plug-in passenger cars after China and Europe.
  The U.S. market share of plug-in electric passenger cars increased from 0.14% in 2011 to 0.75% in 2014, and fell to 0.66% in 2015. Then climbed to 1.13% in 2017, and achieved a record take rate of 2.1% in 2018, but slightly declined to 1.9% in 2019. California is the largest plug-in car regional market in the country, with almost 670,000 plug-in electric vehicles sold by the end of 2019.
  As of December 2019, the Tesla Model 3 all-electric car is the all-time best selling plug-in electric car with an estimated 300,471 units delivered, followed by the Tesla Model S electric car with about 157,992, and the Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid with 157,054 units of both generations.
context_section_description: Researchers from the Indiana University School of Public and Environmental Affairs developed an index that identifies and ranks the municipal plug-in electric vehicle readiness ("PEV readiness"). The evaluation ranked the U.S. 25 largest cities by population along with five other large cities that have been included in other major PEV studies. The rankings also included the largest cities in states that joined California zero-emissions vehicle goal. A total of 36 major U.S. cities were included in the study. The evaluation found that Portland, Oregon ranks at the top of the list of major American cities that are the most ready to accommodate plug-in electric vehicles.
  Readiness is the degree to which adoption of electric vehicles is supported, as reflected in the presence of various types of policy instruments, infrastructure development, municipal investments in PEV technology, and participation in relevant stakeholder coalitions. The study also compares cities within states that participate in the Zero Emission Vehicle program, with those that do not, with the objective to understand whether participation in that program has a meaningful impact on PEV readiness.
  In order to accelerate the adoption of plug-in electric vehicles (PEV), many municipalities, along with their parent states, offer a variety of benefits to owners and operators of PEVs to make PEV adoption easier and more affordable. All six cities in the top of the ranking offer purchase incentives for PEVs and charging equipment. Four of the six offer time-of-use electricity rates, which makes overnight charging more affordable. The top-ranking cities also score well in categories such as public charging station density, special parking privileges, access to high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes, and streamlined processes for installing charging equipment. Those services and incentives are largely absent from the bottom six cities.
  The following is the full ranking of the 36 U.S. cities in 25 states included in the evaluation of PEV readiness:
caption: Portland, Oregon ranks at the top of the list of major American cities that are the most ready to accommodate PEVs. Shown a BMW i3 charging at Portland Electric Avenue.
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