Ford Motor Company just released a list of the top 25 electric vehicle (EV) friendly cities in anticipation of the release of their Ford Focus Electric later this year. The list was compiled by researchers at the company and digs deep into what makes one place more EV friendly than the next. The company decided that EV infrastructure reaches far beyond public charging stations and into the policies and procedures each city has in place for the no-emissions vehicle market. Is your city on the list?
“As more and more electric vehicles come to market, it’s incredibly important that cities develop action plans including infrastructure development and permitting solutions to ensure these vehicles are a viable solution for citizens,” said Mike Tinskey, Ford’s manager of Vehicle Electrification and Infrastructure. It makes sense that a company selling a new product — in this case the EV — would want to make sure the market was ready for it but the interest in this report is how deep it digs.
Ford went through each city and rated it not only on the amount of public charging stations but also the number of corporate charging stations, quick charge stations, availability of online permits for speedy approval for installing consumer and commercial charging stations, comprehensive urban planning approach to EV infrastructure and the amount of cooperation between the different concerned parties on the EV city of the future. The company released the list in alphabetical order so as not to choose a favorite EV-ready city but Tinskey hinted that San Francisco is one of the leaders of the pack. Among the other cities mentioned are Boston, New York, Washington DC, Philadelphia, Houston, Baltimore and Phoenix.
+ The full list is available here
Via Gigaom
