Chevrolet beats Tesla for favorite EV of West Palm drivers

WEST PALM BEACH — West Palm Beach is ranked 35 out of 82 metro areas for the most electric vehicle drivers, according to the latest EV research from automotive industry search engine iSeeCars. In its most recent study, the company examined the miles driven on 3-year-old electric vehicles to identify which ones are driven the most.

Although a No. 35 ranking may seem discouraging for the amount of investment that has been put into Palm Beach County's local electric vehicle infrastructure, like free EV charging stations, West Palm Beach drivers use their EVs 12.6% more than the national percentage of EV usage.

Tesla may reign supreme nationwide, but in West Palm, electric drivers love Chevy. According to the study, the three most-driven electric vehicles in West Palm Beach are the Chevrolet Bolt EV, Hyundai Ioniq Electric and Tesla Model Y.

According to the Federal Highway Administration, the average person drives around 13,500 miles each year.

Here are averages for how many miles EV drivers in West Palm put on their cars each year for the top 5 electric vehicles used in the area:

On average, electric vehicle drivers in West Palm Beach put 9,184 miles on their cars each year, over 4,000 miles less than what the average person drives yearly, according to the iSeeCars study. This is likely because of range anxiety, or drivers' feelings surrounding the lengthy process of fueling up an EV and EV charger accessibility.

Although EV charging is becoming more accessible, it still takes at least 30 minutes to fuel an EV. It typically takes around an hour or longer.

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Drivers in West Palm who use gas-powered vehicles typically put around 11,000 miles on their cars each year. Electric Vehicle drivers in West Palm put just over 9,000 miles on their cars every year.

This means the average EV driver in West Palm is using their car 16.4% less than drivers in West Palm who use gas-powered cars. This margin is slimmer than the national gap in driving between EV drivers and those driving on gas. Nationally, EV drivers use their cars nearly 30% less, according to the study.

West Palm Beach has 115 public charging stations and 99 of them are free to use. Most electric vehicle chargers in West Palm are either Tesla or electric vehicle charging industry giant ChargePoint, which has over 170,000 charging locations nationwide.

Tesla's superchargers don't just charge Teslas, they're compatible with most other EVs as well. ChargePoint's charging ports are compatible with every EV in the market and can even charge Tesla cars with an adapter.

With this interactive map from Charge hub, you can search for chargers in your area and organize them by brand and availability. The location icon on an EV charger near you will appear green if it is available or red if it is in use.

These are the four most popular charging stations in West Palm Beach, according to Chargehub:

Nationally, all but one of the top 5 spots for most-used EVs is taken up by industry giant Tesla, with Hyundai coming in at fifth place.

Here are national averages for how many miles EV drivers put on their cars each year for the top 5 electric vehicles used nationally:

Lianna Norman covers trending news in Palm Beach County for The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at [email protected]. You can follow her reporting on social media @LiannaNorman on Twitter.