A new study by Coast examined electric vehicle charging station density versus traditional gas stations in the U.S.

Researchers from the smart fuel card and modern expense management platform built on the Visa network found that the U.S. averages about 104 gas pumps per 1,000 road miles, compared to just 22 EV charging ports.

“As the popularity of electric vehicles rises, many may wonder how accessible charging stations are in their area,” Coast said in a news release highlighting the report that’s available online.

Coast explained that the study is based on data from the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Census Bureau to compare EV charging port density to gas station pump density in U.S. states. Researchers determined state-by-state comparisons by positioning the number of EV charging opportunities and gas stations against roadway miles, vehicle registrations, and square miles.

They created a density metric to highlight states with better EV charging density than gas station density, based on vehicle usage and charging/fueling accessibility, with assumptions for gas pump numbers from Enel X.

Among the findings:

• Nevada: 49% more EVs per vehicle registration than the national average but has 19% fewer EV ports per road mile.
• Oregon: 56% more EVs per vehicle registration but 14% fewer EV ports per road mile.
• Rhode Island: 26% fewer EVs per vehicle registration with 205% more EV ports per road mile.
• Maine: 47% fewer EVs per vehicle registration and 5% more per road mile.

Coast also mentioned two states that stood out when examining gas vehicle usage versus fueling density. They included:

• Nevada: 2% more gas vehicles per vehicle registration than the national average but has 37% fewer gas pumps per road mile.
• Louisiana: 2% less gas vehicles per vehicle registration than the national average and 43% more gas pumps per road mile.

Furthermore, researchers noted nine states with more EV charging opportunities than gas stations. They included:

• Massachusetts
• Rhode Island 
• California
• Hawaii
• Maryland
  
• Colorado
• Oregon
• Utah
  
• Washington