Map of EV scores for states
As if often the case New Hampshire stands out among its peers - in this case, not for good reasons. Credit: BROOKINGS INSTITUTE / Courtesy

You will be astonished to learn (ha!) that New Hampshire is the laggard, by a long short, among Northeastern states in a ranking of how welcoming and receptive we are to electric vehicles.

As I learned from this Canary Media report, the Brookings Institutes looked at ways various states promote vehicle electrification and gave each a score. At the top were, surprise, California and Massachusetts, while the South and much of the Mountain time zone did poorly. New Hampshire is tied with Tennessee and Alaska; even North Dakota did better (oh, the shame).

New Hampshire has long been a foot-dragger on vehicle electrification, notably on our shortage of public charging. It’s part of state leaders’ weird fixation on fossil fuels, of which we produce none.

David Brooks can be reached at dbrooks@cmonitor.com. Sign up for his Granite Geek weekly email newsletter at granitegeek.org.