The cities with the most accessible EV chargers are found in California, while in Louisville, Kentucky, a charger may be more difficult to find, according to a new study by iSeeCars.
Leading off: Overall, iSeeCars’ study of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Alternative Fuels Data Center projected a 15.5% increase in the number of EV chargers this year.
That is the lowest annual growth in 14 years, dropping from a 25.7% increase between 2024 and 2025.
The slower growth follows the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill by the U.S. Congress that ended EV tax credits for vehicles and rolled back credits for chargers at homes and businesses.
“There’s likely a connection between the current political climate and the latest drop in new EV chargers, both from a direct government funding perspective and from local governments' sense of urgency as a result of the Big Beautiful Bill,” iSeeCars Executive Analyst Karl Brauer told CDG News.
Improvement in ratios: The iSeeCars study does note that the ratio between charger to residents improved by 13.2% to one per 1,143 person.
The nation is projected to add 40,243 electric chargers to bring the total to 299,798.
With last year’s expiration of the tax credits, the sales share of new EVs has dropped from a 10% to 15% share to around 5%, though used EV sales have grown slightly.
“I feel like the falling rate of EV infrastructure expansion and decreasing market share for EVs can’t be a coincidence,” Brauer said. “I’m guessing many states and counties don’t feel as compelled to build out a charging network as they did a year or two ago. But the generally falling rate of expansion over the past 15 years suggests there’s more going on, including a low return on investment. The network of fuel stations that sprung up after World War II didn’t need government help to happen. There was market demand and money to be made by opening a gas station. Clearly, EV charging stations aren’t in the same situation.”
California leads in chargers: California leads the nation in EV sales, with new California New Car Dealers Association data showing EV sales through the third quarter were at 215,467 in 2026, with a 16.6% share.
iSeeCars data found that California led the nation with 81,932 chargers.
The Los Angeles metro led the nation with 36,318 chargers.
San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose was second with 22,430 chargers, but led the nation with the ratio of a charger per 334 residents.
San Diego and Sacramento-Stockton-Modesto also were among the top seven in the ratio of charger per residents.
As a state, California was second in the ratio, with a charger per 480 residents, while Vermont led the nation with one every 450 people.
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More sparse charging options: With only 621 chargers, Louisville, Kentucky, had the fewest chargers of any metro and the worst ratio of one charger per 2,904 residents.
Greensboro-Winston-Salem, North Carolina, has 700 chargers.
Indianapolis, Indiana, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, each had one charger per approximately 2,700 residents.
Milwaukee showed the third-most improvement among metros, lowering its ratio by 18.4%, going from a charger every 3,327 residents to 2,716.
Minneapolis-St. Paul had the best improvement, cutting its ratio by 22.5% from 2,478 residents per charger to 1,921.
Bottom line: As shoppers are looking at EV options, charging infrastructure is a concern. Brauer points out dealers should be aware of infrastructure and know how it could impact their market.
“Dealers should take a look at their local EV infrastructure as part of their EV planning,” Brauer said. “If a dealer is located in a particularly non-EV-friendly market, that’s likely another strike against EV demand and market value.”
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