Editorial: Marin’s EV numbers show trust in state’s direction

When it comes to electric vehicles, on average, more Marin motorists are buying zero-emission vehicles than in all but two other California counties.

Only Santa Clara and Alameda counties topped Marin vehicle buyers’ preference, where nearly four out of every 10 new light-duty vehicles – passenger cars and lightweight trucks – registered were EVs, according to the state Department of Motor Vehicles figures.

Across the state, it was more like one in four new cars were EVs. Still, that’s a sizable upswing from 2022 when zero-emissions vehicles made up 18.8% of new vehicles purchased in California.

Marin’s greater percentage likely is a combination of local motorists’ interest in the environmental benefits of shifting to EV and that they can afford their higher price tags.

According to the DMV, last year Marin residents bought 4,469 zero-emission vehicles, with the Tesla Model Y being their top choice. Marin buyers purchased 1,088 of them.

Just 10 years ago, that number was around the total number of EVs bought by Marin households and businesses.

Today, in addition to Tesla, the availability of EVs is significantly greater.

Dana Armanini, the county’s senior sustainability planner, says EVs are now “a mainstream option.”

In addition to being greener than combustible engines, motorists save on fuel and maintenance costs.

The trend also reflects California’s countdown to 2035 when the state plans to require that EVs represent all new vehicle sales.

While the current average cost of an EV is about 52,000, the state’s goal remains ambitious, especially from a standpoint of economic equity.

Even with the trend of EV sales swinging upward, they still only represent 5% of the light-duty vehicles on California’s roads. Their price tag in the new and used markets are going to have come down to within the pocketbooks of lower- and moderate-income Californians.

Even in affluent Marin, the divide is clear with most sales being recorded in wealthier communities such as Belvedere, Tiburon and Ross.

In Belvedere and Tiburon, nearly half of the new cars on the road are EVs.

The rise in EVs also increases the demand for public EV charging stations, a need that has long been a priority for the Transportation Authority of Marin. As the market share grows, so should TAM’s EV efforts to marshal state and federal funding available for boosting plug-in stations.

That initiative has to include keeping them in good repair, with nonfunctional stations becoming a problem, according to the University of California, Berkeley survey of EV stations. The 2022 study showed 22.7% of the stations in the greater Bay Area were nonfunctioning.

Concerns regarding California’s electrical grid’s ability to keep up with demand remains a challenge.

Even before recent years’ boosts in EV sales, our state has faced electricity-saving brownouts.

The safe disposal of used EV batteries also remains a growing issue.

The rise in EV sales reflects a generational trend. Time will tell whether over the next decade we will be able resolve pressing issues such as reliable public EV charging stations and the high price of EVs, but the numbers reflect a growing consumer trust and interest has Marin and California sales making headway toward meeting the state’s goal.