Electric Cars Which States Are Doing It Right?

If you live in parts of California, electric cars--from the Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid all the way up to the Tesla Model S--are no longer uncommon.

The streets of Palo Alto, in the center of Silicon Valley, are practically crawling with Teslas these days.

But in other parts of the country, you may go months without seeing a single car with a plug.

Three weeks ago, Mother Nature Network took a look at which states have the most plug-in electric cars, and why.

California tops the list, of course, due to state rules that require sales of certain numbers of zero-emission vehicles by the six carmakers with the great sales in the state (Chrysler, Ford, GM, Honda, Nissan, and Toyota).But after California, there are a few surprises.

Two years ago, Pike Research predicted that Hawaii, Oregon, Washington, D.C. (technically not a state, but OK), and Delaware would have the highest percentage of electric vehicles on their roads.

Among the top 10 best markets for the Nissan Leaf, for example, is Atlanta--due largely to Georgia's $5,000 state tax credit for purchase of a battery-electric vehicle.

Little Normal, Illinois, designated itself "EVtown" and has more than 300 plug-in vehicles in a city of 54,000.

And even regions not necessarily known for being particularly green in their transport--think pickups, not Priuses--are starting to look at their own efforts.

Among southwestern states, for example, Colorado is best, Wyoming is worst in policies supporting  adoption of plug-in cars.