By the numbers
Wisconsinites bought fewer electric cars in 2024 than in the year prior, according to the most recent U.S. Department of Energy figures available.
After increasing by 9,200 vehicles from 2022 to 2023, the electric vehicle fleet in Wisconsin grew by only 7,400 from 2023 to 2024, bringing the total number of electric vehicles registered in Wisconsin up to 32,300. In percentage terms, that’s the lowest year-over-year increase since 2019.
Electric cars made up about 58 cars per 10,000 vehicles registered in Wisconsin in 2024, up from 45 per 10,000 in 2023 and 29 per 10,000 in 2022, data from the Department of Energy show.
Across midwestern states, Wisconsin remains near the middle of the pack in terms of EV adoption. Electric cars make up about as much of the fleet in Wisconsin as they do in Ohio and Indiana, but substantially less than in Illinois, Minnesota or Michigan.
California leads the nation in terms of total EVs registered as well as EVs per 10,000 vehicles, with 1.5 million registered in the state for a rate of 410 EVs per 10,000 vehicles registered.
Texas, the current headquarters of the country’s largest EV manufacturer, Tesla, has a slightly lower adoption rate than Illinois.
The vast majority — over 95 percent — of vehicles in Wisconsin ran on internal combustion in 2024, burning either gas, diesel or ethanol, while hybrids made up 2.8 percent of the total and EVs just over half of one percent. The remainder includes vehicles fueled by compressed natural gas, propane, hydrogen, biodiesel, or “unknown fuel.”
Wyatt Eichholz is a policy and legislative associate at the Badger Institute.
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