The 10 Best Cities for Electric Cars

The 10 Best Cities for Electric Cars
November 3, 2010
by Jim Motavalli

General Electric is poised to order “tens of thousands” of electric cars, probably the “largest order in history,” according to CEO Jeff Immelt in a London speech. The specifics of that are supposed to be made clear this week, but Immelt said that half of GE’s sales force, some 23,000 people, could be in plug-in cars, probably Nissan Leafs. I can’t wait — I live a mile from GE’s world headquarters, so it will be nice to see all the electric cars around, and maybe it will be an impetus for EV charging here in Fairfield, Connecticut. This is all the more reason to have charging at the town railroad station, right?

While we’re waiting for GE’s shoe to drop, the company is blogging about EVs, including a recent post identifying what it calls “the 10 best cities for electric cars.” How do you determine that? If you’re GE, you use data from the Census Bureau and study the commuting habits of people in the 25 biggest metropolitan areas. You look for the percentage of commuters who drive to work and live within 50 miles of the job, and you also factor in how the region is set up to handle the needs of car commuters.

The irony here is that these rankings tend to favor communities that have done the least to build public transportation networks. They’ve fussed over light rail plans, or simply have a culture that worships the private automobile. New York City doesn’t make the list because it’s one of the very few cities where more than half the residents don’t own cars, and a majority use public transportation. So it’s very green, but not EV-friendly as GE reckoned it. Indeed, it’s a challenge to own any kind of car in New York.

Here’s the list, which is very Texas-friendly:…  READ MORE.