Maryland EV registrations are 37,432 as of the end of August, 2021, according to data from MDOT / Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration.
About 12,763 of those electric vehicles are registered in Montgomery County. As the most populated county in Maryland, with more than one million residents, it makes sense that Montgomery has the greatest total number of plug-in vehicles. In May, 2020, PlugInSites compared Maryland Plug-In Vehicle Adoption by County using the number of plug-in vehicles registered per 100,000 residents.
Perhaps a more useful metric is what percentage of all vehicles registered in each county is electric? The results show a wide gulf between the suburban counties in the center of the state and the more rural areas of Maryland.
Montgomery and Howard Have the Highest Percentage of EVs
There were about 5 million vehicles registered in Maryland as of June 30, 2021 according to MVA. About 794,713 are registered in Montgomery County. About 8,140 of the vehicles in the County are Battery Electric and 4,623 are Plug-In Hybrids for a total of 12,763 plug in vehicles. That means 1.61% of all vehicles registered in Montgomery County are plug-ins. Howard County has the 2nd highest percentage of plug-in vehicles at 1.52%. Montgomery and Howard are way out in front of the rest of the Maryland for percentage of EVs.
Frederick, Anne Arundel and Baltimore City are next in the rankings with between 0.76% and 0.70% of all registered vehicles being electric. Frederick, Anne Arundel and Baltimore City’s percentage of EVs is very close to the state of Maryland at large which is 0.74%.
Saint Mary’s, Harford, and Charles Counties have are around 0.38% of their vehicles being plug-ins. These counties fall around the middle of the list.
Garrett and Somerset Counties Have Lowest Maryland EV Adoption
Garrett County in far western Maryland has a population of less than 30,000 and has only 34 EVs registered. Somerset County on the southern tip of the Eastern Shore has 17 plug-in vehicles. Less than one-tenth of one percent of all the vehicles in Somerset County, MD have a plug.
Maryland EV Policy
The chart above and the interactive table below may be useful to people who are interested in local and state EV policy. Perhaps the visuals can help put context to the geographic disparity of EV adoption in Maryland.
It can be difficult to get consensus on EV-related legislation in the General Assembly in Annapolis. One example is HB0784, the Residential Construction “EV-Ready” bill. This bill originally was to require pre-wiring for every new home across the state. This is already required in Howard County. The EV-Ready bill faced questions from lawmakers from parts of Maryland that have not yet seen much plug-in vehicle adoption. The momentum of EV adoption that may seem inevitable in Montgomery or Howard County can look a lot different from the perspective of Western Maryland or the Eastern Shore.
Table – Maryland EV Registrations per County
Use the interactive table below to sort county data by all Vehicles, Battery Electric Vehicles (BEV), Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEV), Total of all Plug-Ins (Total EV), or percent of plug-in electric of all vehicles (% EV).
Source: MVA Electric and Hybrid Vehicle Registrations by County as of August 2021 obtained from Maryland Open Data Portal.
See also: Maryland Plug-In Vehicle Adoption by County
