Electric cars

Electric cars are making a dent in Las Vegas’ air pollution, but charging infrastructure is still limited and drivers statewide aren’t adopting the technology fast enough to reach emissions goals.

Take Will Gibbs, an Uber driver who swears by his electric 2022 Kia EV6 GT-Line and says he often finds himself waiting on line for a charger.

“I need it every single day, so it becomes a real problem,” said Gibbs, who was charging his vehicle at the Las Vegas South Premium Outlets on Warm Springs Road and Las Vegas Boulevard.

Still, he said, the benefits of his electric vehicle outweigh any inconveniences. And he’s not the only one who is going electric.

The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, a trade association and lobbying group, reported 41,441 electric vehicle sales in Nevada from 2011 to August 2023. But annual sales peaked in 2022 at 12,384 and are expected to grow. Additionally, California had 1.5 million electric car sales from 2011 to 2023 — some of which could be part of the 48,000 people who relocated to Nevada in the past year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

That means the charging infrastructure needs to continue evolving.

Nevada has 1,895 public electric vehicle chargers at 562 locations, according to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Alternative Fuels Data Center, That’s up from 1,663 chargers at 478 locations in 2022 and 1,162 chargers at 298 locations in 2021.

16A 32A 20ft SAE J1772 & IEC 62196-2 Charging Box