Electric Vehicle Charge Up

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KEY CONCEPTS

• Transportation is the leading source of heat-trapping pollution in the U.S. Most of that pollution comes from fueling cars and trucks with gasoline and diesel. 

• Electric vehicles (EVs) are key to decreasing the travel-related pollution that causes global warming and worsens air quality. Public charging infrastructure supports growing EV adoption.

• The number of public EV charging ports in the U.S. has grown more than 6-fold over the last decade, from about 30,000 in 2016 to nearly 196,000 in January 2025. 

• California has at least three times more EV chargers than any other state, followed by New York, Florida, and Texas.

• Accounting for state size, the average density of public chargers is highest across northeastern states, led by Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Jersey, and Maryland.

• Public fast chargers are also growing, supporting longer-distance zero-emission drives like Climate Central’s own EV road trip from Maine to Texas in 2024. 

• Despite recent expansion of EV charging infrastructure, continued growth in EV sales would require more public chargers — especially in areas with sparse coverage.

This Climate Matters analysis is based on open-access data from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). See Methodology for details.

Toward zero-emissions transportation

Transportation is the leading source of heat-trapping pollution in the U.S. Of all transportation-related emissions, 80% comes from fueling cars and trucks with gasoline and diesel.

Replacing those with electric vehicles (EVs) can reduce tailpipe emissions, avoid additional warming, and improve air quality and health. 

More EVs than ever are on the road in the U.S., with a surge in sales over the last five years. 

Most of the charging infrastructure for the growing number of EVs is through private at-home chargers. But public charging infrastructure helps make EV ownership more broadly accessible, while also making long-distance zero-emissions travel possible.

This brief examines the growth and distribution of public charging infrastructure in the U.S. over the past decade (2016-2025), including along popular road trip routes (see Methodology for details).

Public EV chargers: a decade of growth

Public EV charging infrastructure in the U.S. has grown rapidly over the last decade to help meet rising EV demand. 

As of January 2025, there were 195,874 public charging ports in the U.S. across 69,679 stations. 

That’s over six times more public chargers than a decade ago in 2016, when the U.S. had approximately 30,000 public chargers. 

With more than 49,000 public chargers, California has triple the number in the second-ranked state (New York). The top 10 states are:

Although three of the 10 largest U.S. states (Texas, California, Colorado) rank among the top 10 in terms of total public chargers, larger states don’t necessarily have more public chargers. 

Ranking the average density of public chargers shows that the number of chargers doesn’t scale with state size. The top 10 are dominated by relatively small northeastern states. 

A recent study found that California, Nevada, and every state in New England have the highest levels of public EV charger coverage, whereas a band of nine southern, central, and plains states from Louisana through Montana have the lowest levels of coverage. 

Fast chargers for EV road trips

Of the nearly 196,000 public chargers in the U.S., the vast majority (74%) are Level 2 chargers, which provide 10-20 miles of range per hour of charging.

About 25% of public chargers (49,916) are direct current (DC) fast chargers with much shorter charging times. DC fast chargers provide about 180-240 miles of range per hour of charging.

As of January 2025, there were over 14 times more public DC fast chargers than a decade ago in 2016, when the U.S. had approximately 3,434. 

Public DC fast chargers tend to be located along high-traffic routes to enable zero-emissions trips longer than a daily commute. 

In the U.S., only 2% of all car trips are longer than 50 miles. But more public DC fast chargers make it increasingly practical to take those longer trips in an EV. 

Despite uneven coverage, public DC fast chargers are becoming more common along major U.S. routes, making some iconic road trips possible in EVs. One benchmark for convenient long-distance EV travel is having a DC fast charger on every consecutive 50-mile stretch of road.  

Along these five road trip routes, the average distance between DC fast chargers ranges from 5 miles to 17 miles. The longest gaps between fast chargers along one of these routes ranges from 42 miles (along parts of I-5 in Oregon) to 259 miles (along I-70 in Illinois and Ohio). With planning, those gaps could be filled by longer (e.g., overnight) charging sessions at public Level 2 chargers.

The Edge of America Tour: Climate Central’s EV road trip

Climate Central took its own EV road trip in 2024. The Edge of America Tour covered 7,347 miles of coastline from Maine to Texas in an all-electric Ford F-150 Lightning. 

The Edge of America Tour collected data to generate science-based photorealistic visuals of coastal flood risk, sharing impactful stories and images of coastal resilience along the way. 

In addition to providing powerful visuals of the impacts of sea level rise, this tour demonstrates the increasing ability of public charging infrastructure to support long-distance travel in EVs. 

EVs as a climate solution

Despite recent expansions in EV adoption and charging infrastructure, EVs still make up a small share (around 8%) of all new car sales, and transportation remains the leading source of heat-trapping pollution in the U.S.

Of all transportation-related emissions, 80% come from fueling cars and trucks with gasoline and diesel. And although fuel efficiency has increased, Americans are generally driving more each year — leading to more total fossil fuel use for transportation. 

An EV requires about half of the energy that a gasoline-powered car uses. This increased efficiency translates into decreases in heat-trapping pollution, regardless of the source of electricity powering the grid that EVs plug into. 

On average across all U.S. states, driving an EV reduces CO2 emissions by 66% compared with a gasoline-powered vehicle. 

As clean electricity continues to grow, emissions associated with EVs will continue to decrease. 

The future of EV charging

To support the projected 33 million EVs on the road in the U.S. by 2030, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory estimates that the U.S. needs about 1 million more public chargers than there are today, in just five years. About 170,000 of those new public chargers would need to be DC fast chargers — more than triple the current number. 

As the number of chargers increases, there’s an opportunity to improve their distribution and fill gaps in the charging infrastructure, especially in the middle of the country.

There’s also an important opportunity to make access to charging infrastructure more equitable. Many people of color, rural communities, and lower-income groups disproportionately lack access to charging infrastructure. 

Given that most of the nationwide charging network is concentrated in private chargers in single-family homes, expanding public EV chargers can support broader and more equitable access to EVs. 

The good news is that investment in the U.S. clean energy transition has never been higher — and zero-emission vehicles lead clean investment in 27 states, especially across the West Coast, much of the Upper Midwest, and throughout the Mid-Atlantic and New England. 

California has seen the highest level of investment in the purchase and manufacture of zero-emission vehicles since 2018, followed by Tennessee, Michigan, Georgia, and New York. 

LOCAL STORY ANGLES 

Investigate regional initiatives to increase EV charger coverage 

At the sub-national scale, regional and state efforts are increasing the coverage of EV charging infrastructure. For example, the West Coast Electric Highway is a collaborative effort between Washington, Oregon, and California that has established a seamless charging network along the I-5 corridor and other major routes. Many states, including Maine and New Mexico, have initiatives focused on increasing EV charging infrastructure to support tourism. States such as New York, New Jersey, and Michigan also have incentives for installing workplace or public charging stations.  

Explore the charger growth needed to support EV travel in your area 

The DOE’s EVI-RoadTrip Lite: Charging Need tool estimates the number and type of charging ports needed to support long-distance travel of 100 miles or more along highway corridors in a given state or county. It is a simplified version of EVI for Road Trips (EVI-RoadTrip).

Estimate emissions from your transportation

Use the Environmental Protection Agency’s Carbon Footprint Calculator to see how much transport accounts for the total carbon footprint of households in your zip code. 

CONTACT EXPERTS

Gregg Kresge, PhD 
Senior Manager, Utility Engagement and Transportation Electrification
World Resources Institute
Relevant expertise: electrification of the transit sector
Contact: gregg.kresge@wri.org

Brennan Borlaug 
Researcher IV-Systems Engineering
Center for Integrated Mobility Sciences
Relevant expertise:  Electric vehicle charging infrastructure, sustainable mobility, transportation decarbonization
Contact: Brennan.Borlaug@nrel.gov   

FIND EXPERTS

Submit a request to SciLine from the American Association for the Advancement of Science or to the Climate Data Concierge from Columbia University. These free services rapidly connect journalists to relevant scientific experts. 

Explore databases such as 500 Women Scientists, BIPOC Climate and Energy Justice PhDs, and Diverse Sources to find and amplify diverse expert voices. 

Reach out to your State Climate Office or the nearest Land-Grant University to connect with scientists, educators, and extension staff in your local area. 

METHODOLOGY

Data for public charging stations was sourced from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Alternative Fuels Data Center. We counted the number of public electric vehicle (EV) charging ports (ie., “chargers”) across three charger types (Level 1, Level 2, and direct current (DC) fast charging) . Only operational (open) stations with public access were counted. The analysis shows the number of public charging stations available annually from 2016 to 2025 using data for January 1 of each year. 

We also analyzed the number of these public EV charging stations with at least one (DC) fast charger port (also called level 3 chargers) within a 0.31-mile (500 meter) buffer on both sides of the road along five road trip routes in the U.S.: the Blue Ridge Parkway; Interstate 5 (I-5); Interstate 70 (I-70); Interstate 95 (I-95); and Route 66. The routes we selected are historically notable and/or major roadways in the U.S. with adequate mapping and EV charger data that span different regions of the U.S. The Blue Ridge Parkway and Route 66 are among the National Scenic Byways & All-American Roads. I-5 is the primary north-south interstate highway on the West Coast, running through Washington, Oregon, and California. I-70 is a major cross-country route, stretching from Utah to Maryland. I-95 is the primary north-south interstate highway on the East Coast, running from Maine to Florida. The total length of each interstate route is from the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration and refers to the net miles (does not include mileage of sections that overlap other interstate routes).