The Atlanta metropolitan area has become the fastest growing market for electric cars in the United States. Last March, the state of Georgia had a grand total of 1,469 registered electric vehicles. 12 months later that number grew to 10,482, a whopping 614 percent increase.
So why are electric cars becoming so popular in Georgia? Several factors are contributing to the boom, with the state’s $5,000 tax credit the most obvious. Atlanta is spread out over a massive area and the vast majority of people commute to work alone by car. Unsurprisingly, that results in widespread gridlock.
If you own an electric car in Atlanta, you can get around those traffic problems through the use of HOV lanes as well as avoiding HOT tolls. That’s on top of all the other savings electric cars afford their drivers, meaning that the dollars pile up after that initial investment. Unsurprisingly, electric cars are becoming increasingly attractive.
California is still the runaway leader in electric car ownership in the United States. The Golden State boasts an impressive 170 percent growth rate of its own with the number of registered vehicles surpassing 77,000 in March 2014.
Click here for infographics in the original Forbes article
