Birmingham ranks among the worst cities nationally for electric vehicle charging stations, but is among the fastest improving, according to a study by a prominent car sales website.

“When ranked by the ratio of residents to EV chargers, California remains the best state for driving an electric vehicle, with five of the top 10 most EV-friendly cities located within its borders,” said Karl Brauer, iSeeCars executive analyst.

“Southeast and Midwest cities, including Milwaukee, Birmingham, Cleveland, and Louisville, are among the least-friendly EV metro areas,” Brauer said.

The weakest EV charging network among the 50 largest metro areas belongs to Louisville with only 412 chargers, followed by Birmingham at 428 and Milwaukee at 455.

Ranked by chargers per person, Birmingham still ranks second-worst, this time behind Milwaukee, which has a charger for every 4,230 people. Birmingham has a charger for every 3,936 people, the study said.

However, Birmingham also ranks as one of the fastest-improving cities in terms of adding chargers.

Birmingham ranks as the seventh-fastest improving city, going from a charger for every 5,711 people in 2022 to one for every 3,936 people in 2023.

Ranked by their total number of EV chargers, Los Angeles tops the list of cities with more than 21,000 chargers. San Francisco comes in second at nearly 16,000 chargers, followed by New York City at 8,903 chargers and Boston at 6,516 chargers.

Statewide, Alabama had 1,093 total EV charging stations, one for every 4,674 residents, the study said.

In November 2021, Gov. Kay Ivey announced a state-endorsed push towards electric vehicles, including increasing the number of public EV charging stations throughout Alabama.

“We are showing the nation once again Alabama is a driving force in the automotive industry,” Ivey said.

The Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs in 2021 officially launched the state’s electric vehicle education and marketing program, called “Drive Electric Alabama.”