The first few months of 2024 have seen a continued increase in electric vehicles’ electricity consumption, reports Reuters.
In just the first two months of this year, electricity consumption from EVs rose more than 50% from the same timeframe last year. Through February 2024, EVs used 1.58 million megawatt hours (MWh) of electricity. During that same time last year, that number was 1.04 million MWh.
Unsurprisingly, the state with the highest EV energy consumption in 2023 was California, though the state accounted for just under 34% of total national EV electricity demand–a decrease from last year, when it was 35.2%, as drivers across more states begin the EV transition.
Following behind California in EV energy consumption has been Florida, Texas, New York, and Washington, but they’re far from the only ones, with 13 other states having used 100,000 MWh or more electricity to charge EVs last year, spanning nationwide from Maryland to Illinois, and from North Carolina to New Jersey. North Dakota, Wyoming, and South Dakota saw the lowest EV energy consumption in 2023.
The state that saw the largest spike in EV energy consumption last year was Oklahoma. The region experienced a 74% rise in EV energy use in 2023, which may likely be credited to an expansion in public chargers and government incentives for at-home chargers.
