North Carolina Reached Gov. Cooper’s First Electric Vehicles Goal
Governor Roy Cooper announced that North Carolina has reached the first of his ambitious electric vehicle registration goals two years earlier than expected. North Carolina has surpassed 80,000 registered electric vehicles, up from just 10,000 in 2018.
In 2018, Governor Cooper signed an executive order which directed state agencies to evaluate their operations and set goals for decreasing carbon emissions across the economy. It set an initial target of reaching 80,000 electric vehicle registrations by 2025. Data released by the governor’s office last week showed that the 80,000 target was reached in November 2023.
“We knew the private markets were shifting to electric vehicles (EVs) so we set bold goals that would help North Carolina communities be ready. Now it’s happening even faster than we anticipated,” said Governor Roy Cooper. “The key is making EVs more affordable with the assurance that charging stations are available most places, and that’s why we are modernizing state policies and working to build out charging infrastructure in every community all across North Carolina.”
Importance of Electric Vehicles Goals
Transportation is the largest single emitter of greenhouse gases (especially carbon dioxide) in North Carolina, making up 36% of total emissions. That makes the electric vehicles adoption goals especially important milestones in the fight against climate change.
Moving forward, the goals get even more ambitious, with Cooper’s targets calling for 1.25 million zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) on North Carolina’s roads by 2030.This tangible progress toward cleaner vehicles, plus the need to drive forward on reaching longer-range goals, underscores the critical necessity of keeping the governor’s office in environmentally-friendly hands. That reminds us of this fall’s general election matchup between climate action advocate Josh Stein and climate change denier Mark Robinson. See our analysis of the difference between the two candidates.
