DELAWARE, Ohio — With electric vehicle manufacturers like Honda, Lordstown Motors and GM investing millions of dollars into plants here in Ohio to build EV parts or batteries, many may wonder if Ohioans want electric vehicles, and if they do, will they be accessible in the state?

What You Need To Know

  • The top three states of electric vehicles per capita in 2021 were California, Washington and Oregon

  • Some manufacturers are pledging to go all-electric within the next 10 to 15 years

  • Ryan Gill, one of the owners at Chesrown Chevrolet, Buick GMC in Delaware said in his nearly 20 years in the business, he's never seen anything like this latest push to go all-electric

According to data from the U.S. Department of Energy, early adopters of electric vehicles are mostly in coastal states. The top three states of electric vehicles per capita in 2021 were California, Washington and Oregon.

As some manufacturers are pledging to go all-electric within the next 10 to 15 years, organizations in the state are making their push to get more Ohioans behind the wheel of an electric vehicle. 

Ryan Gill, one of the owners at Chesrown Chevrolet, Buick GMC in Delaware said in his nearly 20 years in the business, he's never seen anything like this latest push to go all-electric.

“Never," he said. "Nothing close.” 

GM, the parent company of all three vehicle brands at Chesrown, announced last year that it plans to have an all-electric fleet by 2035.

"We’ve had a very effective technology for so long that so many people are accustomed to," said Gill. "It's very easy to refuel; the infrastructure is all there and we’re talking about changing all of that.” 

When it comes to EV versus traditional internal combustion vehicles, Gill believes it mostly boils down to the lifestyle of the driver.

“I think that there are certain people who this will fit into their lifestyles. They have to have charging availability at home, probably at work and they don't have a tendency to travel long distances. Whether it's vacation or whatever in those cases, I think it could work great," he said. 

Gill said he isn't sure his central Ohio clientele will shift to EVs as quickly as the market will.

"We do have a segment of customers that ask about electric vehicles quite a bit, but our primary customer base absolutely is not on board," he said.

A large area of concern for consumers is accessibility. Many people live in apartments and rent or own homes without garages, which could make it difficult to install an at-home charger.

“I think it’s an obstacle for some people, but I don’t think it’s insurmountable," said Jacob Schwemlein, director of Drive Electric Ohio, a subsidiary of Clean Fuels Ohio.

Schwemlein said there are grants and initiatives that aim to install and expand public charging or paid charging stations for those who can't have home chargers.

"They actually haven’t released guidelines on that yet," he said, "but I’m hoping that a lot of that is going to be available for cities and townships to deploy a lot of that not just level 2 but level 3 charging infrastructure that I think we’re going to need to support the larger deployment of electric vehicles."

In some cases, car manufacturers plan to only put out new models that are electric and discontinue internal combustion vehicles. Gill said he wishes that wasn’t the case.

“I think that if the manufacturers really wanted to push EVs and research and development and bring out new models alongside continuing internal combustion engines, I think that would be ideal. Right now it feels like it’s coming fast, it’s coming hard and there’s a lot of unknown," Gill said.

And those unknowns come with not only changing the vehicles Ohioans drive but the infrastructure in which the vehicles are powered, which will take time.