Inland Empire, specifically the Riverside county, Ontario, and San Bernardino were ranked 10th best metro areas for electric vehicle adoption, according to a new report published last month by Storage Café, an online rental storage marketplace.

The report shows that San Jose, San Francisco, and Seattle, and Los Angeles led the adoption for the electric vehicles.

The publisher analyzed a number of factors to come up with the findings:

• Residential charging stations
• EV infrastructure including public
• Number of registered electric vehicles
• HOT (high-occupancy toll) lanes for EVs
• The cost of an e-Gallon (cost of charging a vehicle using electric when compared to a gasoline-powered one)

“The data that we used here is mostly centered around EV ownership and EV infrastructure. Because in order for people to be encouraged to adopt EV’s, the infrastructure has to be there.” Mirela Mohan, Senior Editor with Storage Café

While the statistics and ranking by Storage Café are important, there are more important factors driving the expansion of EVs. Let’s see where does the Inland Empire region stand in this yet-to-be-competitive space.

1.8M Electric Vehicles

The US registered 1.8 million electric vehicles in 2020, according to a report titled Global EV Outlook 2021 published by the International Energy Agency (IEA). The numbers indicate towards a sharp uptick in the adoption of EVs.

10 million electric cars were on the world’s roads in 2020 and they made up 4.6% of the total car sales around the world in 2020.

The report by IEA points out two factors that greatly contribute to the adoption of EVs. The first is the fiscal incentives inducing scale up in EV manufacturing and battery industries. A second factor is the buyer-side subsidies in the form of vehicle purchase and registration tax rebates.

The adoption of EVs is also helped by a world-wide push to discontinue the use of traditional combustion engine vehicles.

Countries Plan to Phase Out Internal Combustion Engine Vehicles

The image below shows the timeline countries plan to follow to phase out the traditional vehicles having internal combustion engines. In a nutshell, “20 countries have announced the full phase-out of internal combustion engine (ICE) car sales over the next 10‑30 years“, revealed IEA.

Country-Wise Plan to Phase Out ICEs

Source: International Energy Agency

The EV City Case Book

To understand how far ahead the federal, state, and city governments have come to implement a fundamental shift towards electrification of transport system, starting with electric vehicles, the report by IEA titled “The EV City Case Book” sheds comprehensive light on the proceedings.

With a million electric buses expected to be on the roads worldwide in the next five years, Shenzhen, London, Kolkata, and Izmir lead the way in electrification of their buses.

Per the numbers game, US does not lead the world in electrifying its transport system, including buses and taxis.. However, there’s a concerted effort to make EVs the default purchase moving forward. For instance, “the City of Los Angeles is electrifying its entire government fleet, with more than 800 electric vehicles already deployed“.

Partnerships, Joint Ventures, and Gov. Incentives

Partnerships, joint ventures, and government push towards electrification now shows up everywhere. The California Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Project (CALeVIP) opened applications for $14M in EV charging station incentives in San José.

Businesses, commercial property owners, and multifamily residences in San José are eligible to apply for rebates and DC Fast charging equipment and installation costs. CALeVIP aims to double the public charging infrastructure in San Jose and bring it to 1,400 connectors and 100 DC fast chargers.  

In fact, the electrification of everything has become a political movement of sorts, and incentives in the EV industry are everywhere, from property owners to EV charging manufacturers and service providers.

This brings us to the point that where does the Inland Empire stand when a new revolution of EVs is unfolding?

San Bernardino County Leads the Way in EV Infrastructure Manufacturing

“The next time you ride in an electric vehicle, you may want to consider who made the trip possible. There’s a good chance it was built or sourced in San Bernardino County, California“. These opening lines appear in an article by the Site Selection Magazine and sums up nicely the way San Bernardino is leading the pack when it comes to EV infrastructure manufacturing technologies.

There are numerous firms now engaged in EV work in the San Bernardino county. Some of the areas these firms are working in include:

• Electric charging stations
• Designing and building electric shuttle buses
• Mining the rare earth minerals for lithium-ion batteries that power EVs

For a detailed picture on the role that San Bernardino is playing in building the next generation EV infrastructure tech, the article “How the EV Sector in San Bernardino County Is Transforming the Way We Move” has an in-depth writeup

If you are in Riverside, here’s a list of FAQs that the Riverside County has answered on its official website. Our goal at Startempire Wire is to act as a megaphone to connect the dots between the best startups, events, and people in the Inland Empire. Don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel, and like/follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.