Even though I’m located in Detroit now, I’ll always have a soft spot for my home state of Vermont. So imagine my smile when I saw it amongst the automotive-related press releases. Vermont earned the Natural Resources Defense Council’s #1 spot for greenhouse gas friendly transportation in 2023. But in 2024, Vermont really outdid itself with is 41% increase in EV adoption.

I suspect Vermont’s rising rate of EV adoption isn’t in spite of its cold climate. It may be partially due to the climate.

Vermont’s 2024 population was 648,493 people. That’s roughly equal to the city of Louisville, Kentucky. So keep that in mind when you consider it’s now the home of 17,939 EVs. What’s even more impressive is the exponential rate of adoption. It took Vermont six years to get its first 5,000 EVs. In the past two years, it doubled its EV fleet. In 2024 alone, Vermonters added another 5,185 electric vehicles.

Are these all plug-in-hybrid electric vehicles? Nope. While 40% of Vermont EVs are actually plug-in hybrids, the other 60% are full EVs with no internal combustion engines. That’s right, the majority are battery EVs.

The Vermont EV charging network nails it

This may be an “if you build it, they will come” situation. I previously wrote how Vermont has the right idea with its EV fast charger locations. The state is putting fast chargers along popular road trip routes, but many of them are in scenic locations or walkable downtowns, where you might not end up in a gas-powered vehicle.

The little state boasts 459 public EV chargers. And 92 of these are Direct Current (DC) fast chargers, perfect for quicker top-offs in the middle of a road trip. “It’s only getting easier for Vermonters to drive electric,” noted Michele Boomhower, Vermont’s DOT director.

EVs offer one major advantage in the cold, northern state

There’s a rumor that drivers in northern states can’t make electric vehicles work. The truth is that cold temperatures reduce range slightly. But for most commuters, most EVs still get the job done during the colder months. And the latest generation of EVs use new HVAC tech to remain even more efficient during the winter.

Take, for example, Norway. That Northern European country boasts a 95% EV adoption rate. The other 5%? Hybrids. And Norway is one thousand miles long. With reindeer.

The most popular EVs and PHEVs in Vermont all feature AWD to tackle snowy winters. They include the Hyundai Ioniq 5, Nissan Ariya, Toyota RAV4 Prime PHEV, Tesla Model Y, and Ford F-150 Lightning. The Ford Lightning offers another major benefit for Vermonters.

Multi-day power outages are a fact of life in rural Vermont. Heavy snow or ice can break power lines. A bad storm can create outages all across the state. And if you live on a four-mile road with 12 other houses, it may be a while before a crew comes out to find and fix the problem.

Many EVs have 110-volt power outlets, so during a power outage you can plug light appliances into your car. Ford’s F-150 Lightning is available with 7.2 kW outlets, engineered for running power tools on a construction site. It’s “Intelligent Backup Power System” provides more than enough juice for most houses. And Ford claims it will power the average home for three days, no problem. That’s a game changer.