The 10 top-performing states for transportation electrification were unchanged from a 2021 study, but several states beyond the politically liberal coastal belts had some surprising developments, according to a group that tracks energy efficiency.

Colorado jumped to the third spot nationwide after ranking eighth in 2021, making it the most improved state overall in the latest American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) scorecard of transportation electrification.

Researchers held out Colorado utility Xcel Energy Inc., with 1.6 million electric customers and 1.5 million natural gas customers in the state, as a "national leader" in transportation electrification efforts. Boulder County, Denver, and other Colorado jurisdictions have adopted EV-friendly building codes that will soon cover 26% of the state's population, the June 28 report said.

The most improved state by rank in the 2023 ACEEE assessment was Oklahoma, which now has the highest number of direct-current fast charging stations for EVs per capita in the country. The state, which did not qualify for an official ranking in 2021 because the group ranks only the top 33 states, landed at 28 in the latest study thanks to its ambitious EV charging program.

"Oklahoma was a little bit of surprise," Peter Huether, a senior transportation research associate at ACEEE and co-author of the report, said in an interview. "I think it highlights the fact that even among the middle or lower-rank states, there are still things happening, and I think there are still states that recognize that [electrification] is the future."

Oklahoma funds part of its charging program with $3.1 million from the Volkswagen "dieselgate" settlement fund stemming from the carmaker's emissions manipulation scandal uncovered in 2015.

A 75% tax credit for alternative fueling stations is another reason the state has made good progress installing fast chargers, Erin Hatfield, a spokesperson for the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality, said in an email. While the state does not track adoption of EVs, "the presence of a good charging network tends to encourage the adoption of EVs," Hatfield wrote.

Oklahoma has also received the largest funding award of any state from the federal Clean School Bus program and expects to electrify 18% of its school bus fleet, the ACEEE reported.

Southern states lag

However, to rein in greenhouse gas emissions from the US transportation sector, the nation's largest source of carbon, such "incremental progress" must be replaced by decisive action, the report stressed.

Several Southern states, in particular, are getting huge investments in EV manufacturing and use state tax dollars to help subsidize such projects, Huether noted.

"And yet a lot of those states are not doing the same thing for their own drivers," Huether said. "They understand there are benefits to having the EV economy in their state, but are not seeing the benefits of having the actual EVs on the roads to the same extent."

EV manufacturing investments in the Southeast have earned the region the nickname "Silicon Valley of EV and battery manufacturing" even as it lags in EV adoption.

Georgia ranked second to last on the ACEEE scorecard, ahead of only Iowa. South Carolina, where battery technology company AESC broke ground on an $800 million plant in June, did not make the ACEEE's 33-state ranking.

The ACEEE laid out several steps that states can take to jump-start their shift to EVs, including developing clear policies and goals to be able to fully leverage federal funding.

The top 10 in the ACEEE's scorecard were California, New York, Colorado, Massachusetts, Vermont, Washington, New Jersey, the District of Columbia, Oregon and Maryland. So far, seven states have adopted California's latest clean car standards and eight states have adopted its clean truck rule. More states are expected to follow in the next year, Huether said.

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