AS WITH BUYING a home and eating sushi, the wisdom of the decision to drive an electric vehicle hinges less on when you do it, and more on where. Today, you’ll find most EV owners in the few spots where there are ample places to plug in: mainly in California, in a few coastal states, and in major metropolitan areas.
That works OK for now; Americans have bought only about a million EVs to date. But many more are coming. The global auto industry is poised to roll more than 100 electrified car, truck, and crossover models onto showroom floors by 2022. Collectively, they’ll sell in the millions. That means the where question—where the electric vehicle owners will live, where they’ll drive, and most of all, where they’ll charge—is about to become much more important.