Electric vehicles are increasing in popularity in Louisiana. According to Louisiana Clean Fuels, there are now more than 21,000 electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids registered throughout the state. Executive Director Ann Vail says you will find the vast majority of them in the more heavily populated parishes.
“Your commutes are going to be a little bit shorter. And you’re also more likely to have a better fueling infrastructure, which gives you that kind of security when you’re first starting to drive,” Vail said.
Jefferson Parish leads the way with more than 3,500. Per capita, Orleans Parish comes out on top, with almost 1.5% of all vehicles registered being EVs or plug-in hybrids.
In all, EV adoption started its climb in 2021 and soared throughout the year last year, even after Congress pulled the plug on the EV tax credits that wasn’t supposed to expire until 2032. Vail pins some of the credit on Louisiana’s improving charging infrastructure.
“It’s really not that bad. Especially now that the standards, or everybody’s coalescing around the next standard, which is the Tesla charging standard. That infrastructure was very good, and it’s everywhere,” Vail noted.
Vail says she would like to see more multi-family housing communities offer EV charging to their tenants, but that may be easier said than done.
“I don’t think there would be any chance of those kinds of things coming from the state level. You’d have more luck going to the municipality, going to your city, going to your parish, and asking for them to work with that,” Vail said.