N.J. ranks low among states in survey of EV charger availability

New Jersey clean energy supporters have long said making electric vehicle chargers ubiquitous around the state is a key to adoption of the technology among the general public.

And, with a recent study showing the state has more than 2,000 EV chargers, the totality of the effort is higher than many. But, when it comes to chargers per capita, the state is far behind others.

With only 22.6 chargers per 100,000 residents, New Jersey did not rank among the Top 15 states in the country — and is far behind the national average of 39.

It may come as no surprise that California has 41,225 electric vehicle chargers, approximately one third of the nation’s total. More than that, it has 104.7 chargers per 100,000 residents, good for second overall.

Vermont only has 871 chargers, but that’s good for a metric of 139.7 chargers per 100,000 residents.

New Jersey trails others in both categories.

Virginia, a state with roughly the same population as New Jersey, has 3,301 chargers (38.4 per 100,000), good for 15^th overall. Utah has essentially the same number of chargers (1,978) but that’s good for 60.9 per 100,000 residents, or No. 5 overall in the study.

How does New Jersey compare to others in the Northeast? Not so good. Here’s a look (based on ranking for chargers per 100,000).

14. New York

• EV chargers per 100,000 residents: 39.4
• Total EV chargers: 7,621

13. Connecticut

• EV chargers per 100,000 residents: 40.2
• Total EV chargers: 1,430

11. Maine

• EV chargers per 100,000 residents: 46.6
• Total EV chargers: 629

6. Rhode Island

• EV chargers per 100,000 residents: 59.4
• Total EV chargers: 628

3. Massachusetts

• EV chargers per 100,000 residents: 70.7
• Total EV chargers: 4,871

CoPilot said the data used in the study came from the U.S. Department of Energy. To determine the states with the most alternative fueling stations, researchers at CoPilot calculated the number of electric vehicle charging ports per capita. In the event of a tie, the state with the greater total number of electric vehicle charging ports was ranked higher. The data includes charging ports at both public and private stations.

Here is a summary of the data for New Jersey:

• EV chargers per 100,000 residents: 22.6
• Total EV chargers: 2,008
• Level 1 chargers: 18
• Level 2 chargers: 1,440
• DC fast chargers: 550

Here are the statistics for the entire U.S.:

• EV chargers per 100,000 residents: 39
• Total EV chargers: 128,474
• Level 1 chargers: 3,448
• Level 2 chargers: 103,190
• DC fast chargers: 21,782