Milwaukee, Wisconsin, fares little better, ranking near the bottom with just 852 chargers. This results in a ratio of 2,716 residents per station. The lack of infrastructure in the Midwest and South is a recurring theme in the study, highlighting a geographic "EV gap" that could slow national adoption rates.
Texas, despite its reputation as a burgeoning tech hub and the new home of Tesla’s global headquarters, shows a surprising lack of density in its major cities. Both San Antonio and Houston appear on the list of least-friendly cities. San Antonio has a ratio of 2,666 residents per charger, while Houston sits at 2,453. While the raw number of chargers in these Texas cities is higher than in Louisville, the massive population growth in the Lone Star State has far outpaced the installation of new charging hardware.
Interestingly, while Texas cities struggle with density, the state as a whole does not rank among the bottom ten states for total chargers. That dubious honor belongs to Alaska. The nation’s largest state by landmass has the fewest chargers per capita, a result of its extreme isolation, rugged terrain, and the severe impact of sub-zero temperatures on lithium-ion battery performance.
The "charging desert" extends across much of the rural West and the Great Plains. States including North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana remain among the most difficult places to own an EV. These are states defined by vast distances between population centers and harsh winters—factors that make the installation and maintenance of high-speed DC charging stations both expensive and technically challenging.
Beyond the Mountain West, the study identifies West Virginia, Mississippi, Nebraska, Delaware, and Idaho as states with the fewest chargers. In many of these regions, the lack of infrastructure is a "chicken and egg" problem: charging networks are hesitant to invest in areas with low EV registration numbers, while consumers are hesitant to buy EVs because there is nowhere to charge them.
The disparity between the "most friendly" and "least friendly" cities underscores the necessity of federal programs like the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program, which aims to place high-speed chargers every 50 miles along major highways. However, as the iSeeCars study demonstrates, the "last mile" of urban and suburban charging remains a localized challenge.
As the industry moves toward 2025, the gap between leaders like San Francisco and laggards like Louisville will likely dictate the pace of the used EV market and the long-term viability of manufacturer transition plans. For now, American drivers are living in two different worlds: one where an electric future is already visible on every street corner, and another where the hum of a charging station remains a rare and distant sound.
