I will probably not be buying an EV anytime soon, but my case may be different from most everyone (except for perhaps certain wide open states).
I live on the Big Island of Hawaii. We generate all our own electricity using a variety of sources (geo-thermal, fuel oil burning, wind power, wave power and so on). Energy is most expensive here. We cannot get cheaper power from ‘the grid’ and presently cannot run electricity between islands. Because our fuel oil must be brought in by sea AND the Jones Act effects costs.
The Jones Act is a century-old federal law that requires cargo between U.S. locations to be transported on ships built and flagged in the U.S. There are now less than 100 total Jones Act vessels in service (including the Matson and Pasha container ships that enjoy a duopoly on Hawaii’s cargo lifeline from the continental U.S.) and even less Jones Act fuel tankers all dedicated to other fuel transport routes, as opposed to plentiful international tanker capacity.
Our electric costs including tax on my residential bill adds up to 46.22 cents per KWH! My bill was $382.25 for 30 days at $12.74 per day everage. I rarely use the oven, we swapped out the water heater for a propane on-demand, the lights are almost all LED. We use no heaters or air conditioners (don’t need them).
Gasoline is still in the $4.64 to $5.00+ range.
As a state, Hawaii is moving quickly towards being energy independant by the year 2045.
So we have a few charging stations around this island. We are the size of the state of Conneticut (4,000 sq miles) with a population of 50 people per square mile, so rural. We have a road which circumnavigates the island and a road crossing across the island. That road has no gas or services and is 52 miles long and no gas stations near the entrance or exit of that road either. So finding Gasoline is interesting but a charging stations currently, even harder.
Some people suggest that over time, gas stations may also include charging stations, perhaps by putting solar on the roof of the structure. Interesting idea. We have both dry and wet sides of our island. Although there is still some sunlight filtering through, the wet side of the island (120 to 150 inches a year) certainly will have issues with solar power generating. Granted some of that rainfall is at night but still…
To augment power we can use wind power. We certainly have parts of the island that have constant wind and already have some wind power generation.
Regardless of whether the power comes from the sun or wind or geo-thermal or whatever, getting it to the public is also a challange. We have areas with both high voltage and residential power on the same power poles. They may also contain telephone, cable and fiber. This is because all poles are in solid rock and residential drops are far apart in many areas. Because of the single road in many places, these poles are suseptable to being hit by vehicles, rock falls, flooding and of course, lava flows. When a pole is down, it can take many hours to days to get it replaced. It can be a challenge to get to some locations and if that pole is near the only road, travel from one location to another may require a trip of 100 miles to bypass the issue, or just sit and wait.
So, yes, solar would be a great way for the public to charge their own vehicles, but the cost of installation and of the equipment may be too much for the public to bear when you then include the cost of the vehicle.
We have the lowest cost property taxes, but other taxes and costs far exceed other locations in most of the rest of the country. The cost of living is high and many companys and people here make their money from tourists. You can imagine that took a toll during COVID when we pretty much shut down all air and ship travel to the islands.
So, while nowhere on the mainland has all the same issues, I think we have most if not all the issues which might keep people here changing to EV’s. Other locations may have some of the above issues (distance to population centers, sublight or power production issues, etc) which tend t oeliminate the slam-dunk of quickly changing to EVs.
NOTE: Just after posting this I saw that expanding our Geo-thermal plant is moving ahead 5 years after the lava flow shut it down. Although that sounds great, the proposal is getting pushback from nearby residents who worry about the potential risk from future lava flows. (Within the past year even my house was threatened by lava and I live in a relatively safe area. However if the lava had flowed the opposite direction I would have had between 3 and 12 hours to leave my house! Lava flowing this direction would have cut off electricity to the lower 1/5 of the island I assume.
