5 U.S. cities account for half of electric vehicle sales

The United States is seeing steady rise in electric vehicle sales so far in 2013. But those sales seem to be concentrated in just a few cities.
According to an analysis of the EV market from R.L. Polk, 52 percent of EV sales in the U.S. are in just five metropolitan areas:
- San Francisco
- Los Angeles
- Seattle
- New York
- Atlanta
That's mainly because of better access to EVs and better infrastructure in these places. But as Discovery News points out it has something to do with policy.
It's not surprising that California has the number-one and -two slots; the state has been at the forefront of reducing vehicle emissions for half a century.
And starting in 2012, it enacted rules that required the six top-selling automakers to sell a certain number of zero-emission vehicles each year.
That's clearly playing a big factor in where EVs are being sold, because there are some major EV-friendly cities (Portland, Dallas) that aren't on the list.
Photo: Flickr/afagen
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This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com