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Cities With the Most Electric Cars 2026: Top 10 Big Cities

About three in four chargers in China are private, so the city with the most public chargers is not always the easiest place to own an electric car.

  • No. 1: Shenzhen
  • 10 places

01Final list

The leading AIs each built their own list of ten independently. Here is one result that is easy to check: every place has a reason, a source, and the list of AIs that included it.

Order: from most to least AI agreement.

A bright badge means this AI put the entry on its list. A dim badge means it did not.

  1. 1

    Shenzhen

    Most public chargers in ICCT's city count (146,000 in 2022). Plug-in cars made up 27.4% of all vehicles and 75.9% of new sales in 2024.

    Included it: Claude, ChatGPT.

    In their lists: Claude: 1 · ChatGPT: 1

    What each AI noted 2
    • Claudeplace 1

      Plug-in cars were about 27% of the whole fleet and over 75% of new sales in Jan–Oct 2024, and the city has more supercharging stations than petrol stations.

    • ChatGPTplace 1

      ICCT counted 146,000 public chargers in 2022, the largest total among its listed cities.

      Source ↗
    2 AIs put it here
    Source ↗
  2. 2

    Shanghai

    Every new-build parking space must get a charger or wiring for one. ICCT counted 73,000 public chargers in 2022, while the city's totals of 171,800 and 913,000 count different things.

    Included it: Claude, ChatGPT.

    In their lists: Claude: 2 · ChatGPT: 2

    What each AI noted 2
    • Claudeplace 2

      Home charging is where Shanghai pulls ahead: the Oct 2026 plan requires a charger or reserved installation at every new-build parking space. The city also had about 600 charging points per 1,000 NEVs in 2024, counting all types.

      Source ↗
    • ChatGPTplace 2

      The city reported 17.18 million charging and swapping facilities by end-2024, including private and public equipment; the public subset is a much smaller figure.

      Source ↗
    2 AIs put it here
    Source ↗
  3. 3

    Beijing

    More than 60% of new vehicles added in 2025 were electric. Yet ICCT counted only 35,000 public chargers in 2022, about half of Shanghai's 73,000.

    Included it: Claude, ChatGPT.

    In their lists: Claude: 3 · ChatGPT: 5

    What each AI noted 2
    • Claudeplace 3

      Beijing has about 490,000 charging piles for over 1.3 million NEVs, and more than 60% of new cars added in 2025 were NEVs.

      Source ↗
    • ChatGPTplace 5

      ICCT counted 35,000 public chargers in 2022, fewer than Shanghai despite Beijing’s larger population by many city definitions.

      Source ↗
    2 AIs put it here
    Source ↗
  4. More about the top three ↓
  5. 4

    Guangzhou

    Registered more new electric cars in 2025 than any other Chinese city (365,964) and had 57,000 public chargers in 2022. No fleet share was found.

    Included it: Claude, ChatGPT.

    In their lists: Claude: 5 · ChatGPT: 3

    What each AI noted 2
    • Claudeplace 5

      Guangzhou registered more new NEVs in 2025 than any other Chinese city (365,964), yet I found no published fleet share or charger count for it.

      Source ↗
    • ChatGPTplace 3

      The 2022 ICCT comparison counted 57,000 public chargers, placing it among China’s five largest city stocks in that dataset.

      Source ↗
    2 AIs put it here
    Source ↗
  6. 5

    Hangzhou

    About 300,000 chargers for 800,000 electric cars in 2024, but only 34,000 of them public, roughly 43 per 1,000 cars (estimate).

    Included it: Claude, ChatGPT.

    In their lists: Claude: 4 · ChatGPT: 9

    What each AI noted 2
    • Claudeplace 4

      Roughly 300,000 charging facilities for about 800,000 NEVs in 2024, but only about 34,000 of them were public.

      Source ↗
    • ChatGPTplace 9

      Hangzhou is among the 15 Chinese cities accounting together for 57% of public charger stock, according to ICCT’s 2022 city comparison.

      Source ↗
    2 AIs put it here
    Source ↗
  7. 6

    Chengdu

    Nearly half of 2024 new-car sales were electric and 359,175 were registered in 2025, but its 160,000 charger figure is only a target.

    Included it: Claude, ChatGPT.

    In their lists: Claude: 6 · ChatGPT: 8

    What each AI noted 2
    • Claudeplace 6

      Chengdu has one of China's biggest NEV fleets without a licence-plate lottery, but its charger count is mostly a planning target.

      Source ↗
    • ChatGPTplace 8

      ICCT places Chengdu among China’s 15 leading public-charger cities, a group holding 57% of the country’s public-charger stock in 2022.

      Source ↗
    2 AIs put it here
    Source ↗
  8. 7

    London

    A third of 2024 registrations were plug-ins, and there was one public charger per four EVs in 2023. Terraces and flats make home charging hard.

    Included it: Claude, ChatGPT.

    In their lists: Claude: 7 · ChatGPT: 10

    What each AI noted 2
    • Claudeplace 7

      About a third of cars registered in 2024 were plug-ins, against 27.5% for the UK. Home charging is the weak point in a city of terraces and flats.

      Source ↗
    • ChatGPTplace 10

      ICCT’s 2022 comparison includes London among Europe’s major public-charging cities, but city boundaries and charger definitions make cross-city counts sensitive to method.

      Source ↗
    2 AIs put it here
    Source ↗
  9. 8

    Wuhan

    41,000 public chargers in 2022, fourth in ICCT's China count. No sales share, fleet share or home-charging figure was found.

    Included it: ChatGPT. Did not include: Claude.

    In their lists: ChatGPT: 4

    What each AI noted 1
    • ChatGPTplace 4

      Its 41,000 public chargers put it fourth among the Chinese cities listed in ICCT’s 2022 comparison.

      Source ↗
    1 AIs put it here
    Source ↗
  10. 9

    Seoul

    One charger per 1.53 EVs in 2022, the most chargers per car on this list. But the data is old and EVs are still a small share of its roads.

    Included it: Claude. Did not include: ChatGPT.

    In their lists: Claude: 9

    What each AI noted 1
    • Claudeplace 9

      Seoul had only 1.53 EVs per charger in 2022, but electric cars were still a small share of its roads.

      Source ↗
    1 AIs put it here
    Source ↗
  11. 10

    Chongqing

    Its plan puts chargers in 100% of new housing estates, and 283,892 new electric cars were registered in 2025. No actual charger or fleet total was found.

    Included it: Claude. Did not include: ChatGPT.

    In their lists: Claude: 8

    What each AI noted 1
    • Claudeplace 8

      Chongqing's plan calls for chargers in 100% of new residential communities, but I found no actual fleet or charger totals.

      Source ↗
    1 AIs put it here
    Source ↗

02More about the top three

The ranking is above. Here is more about the three places at the top: what they are, why they are here, and what is worth knowing.

The places are compared on public chargers counted in 2022, but the extra facts use other years and bases: fleet share in 2024, new-car share in 2025, and Shanghai totals that include private chargers.

1Shenzhen

No. 1 — Shenzhen. On the lists of 2 of 2 AIs; median place there: 1. It has the most public chargers in the ICCT count, and electric cars are already a huge share of its fleet and new sales.

The west panorama of Shenzhen2021
Charlie fong · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Did you know

  • Shenzhen was reported as the first city in the world to switch its whole bus fleet to electric. The reported fleet is 16,359 buses, which is a lot of vehicles to plug in every night.

    Source ↗
What it is
A big southern Chinese city where electric cars are already part of daily life.
Its edge
It has the most public chargers, 146,000 in 2022, about double Shanghai's count.
Who should know
Useful to know because it shows how far a city can go when electric cars become the norm.
  • Public chargers (ICCT, 2022)146,000 public chargers
  • HeadquartersGuangdong

Wikipedia · Wikidata

Why it is here

  • In 2024, Shenzhen’s new-energy vehicles made up 75.9% of new vehicles in January–October; they were 27.4% of vehicles already on the road. — (voice only)

    Source ↗
Keep in mind

  • Charger counts can hide busy hours. A 2026 article on Shenzhen data says: "Charger count measures supply. Hourly charging behavior measures usable supply." It adds that the data covers 2022–2023 and may not show today.

    Source ↗

Video: I Left The U.S. For Shenzhen, China – Here's How Much It Costs · CNBC Make It

Compare the top three ↓

2Shanghai

No. 2 — Shanghai. On the lists of 2 of 2 AIs; median place there: 2. It has the second-most public chargers and a rule that new parking spaces must get a charger or wiring for one.

Shanghai montage
ASDFGHJ , pontmarcheur (compilations, for proper attribution you have to name the authors of source images · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Bank of China on the Bund in Shanghai
Jan Kranendonk ( https://www.jankranendonk.nl ) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Did you know

  • In Shanghai, a car number plate can cost more than a small car. In March 2013 an auction set a record of about $14,480 for one plate. It is a price for the right to register a car.

    Source ↗
What it is
China's biggest city, with a very large fleet of electric cars.
Its edge
It requires chargers at new parking spaces, so home charging is easier to add.
Who should know
Useful to know because it shows that charging at home, not only public chargers, shapes car ownership.
  • Public chargers (ICCT, 2022)73,000 public chargers
  • HeadquartersPeople's Republic of China

Wikipedia · Wikidata

Why it is here

  • By the end of 2023, Shanghai had 1.288 million new-energy vehicles, the largest city fleet in the world; pure electric vehicles were over 50 percent of new private car sales. — (voice only)

    Source ↗
Keep in mind

  • An older Shanghai survey (2018) found 68% of interviewees said existing public charging piles "can hardly meet their demands". Nearly 70% said too few charging piles was the main obstacle. Charging has likely improved since.

    Source ↗

Video: Chinese Stalingrad: Battle of Shanghai | Animated History · The Armchair Historian

Compare the top three ↓

3Beijing

No. 3 — Beijing. On the lists of 2 of 2 AIs; median place there: 4. More than 60% of its new cars are electric, but it has only about half of Shanghai's public chargers.

Skyline of Beijing CBD with B-5906 approaching (20211016171955)
N509FZ · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
A Park Near My Home (193077295)
Zhiguo Shi Beijingold4 · CC BY 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Structural Biology
tsinghua university · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Did you know

  • Beijing's plate limits also reach electric cars. A 2019 notice said new applicants for an electric-car plate in July and August might wait nine years.

    Source ↗
What it is
China's capital, where electric cars are a fast-growing share of new cars.
Its edge
It has the largest share of new cars that are electric among the three, over 60% in 2025.
Who should know
Useful to know because it shows that strong electric-car growth can come with fewer public chargers.
  • Public chargers (ICCT, 2022)35,000 public chargers
  • HeadquartersPeople's Republic of China

Wikipedia · Wikidata

Why it is here

  • In 2025, new-energy vehicles made up over 60% of Beijing’s newly added cars, and the city had over 128万辆 on the road. — (voice only)

    Source ↗
History

  • In 1421, the Yongle Emperor moved the Ming capital from Nanjing to Beijing. The city became the dynasty’s main seat of power.

    Source ↗
Keep in mind

  • Beijing's plate lottery pushed people toward EVs, but charging held many back. In April 2014, 1,904 lottery winners could register an EV and only 286 did. A top worry was whether a charger fits beside their apartment parking space.

    Source ↗
What people say

  • I'd wait in the cold for hours, just sitting there while the battery filled up — Li Yanyan, Beijing EV owner, describing public charging in 2015 (Sixth Tone)

    Source ↗

Video: The Imperial History Behind Beijing’s 600-Year-Old Central Axis · Chronicle - Medieval History Documentaries

Compare the top three ↓

The top three side by side

ShenzhenShanghaiBeijing
In the AIs' lists2 / 22 / 22 / 2
Public chargers (ICCT, 2022)146,000 public chargers73,000 public chargers35,000 public chargers
HeadquartersGuangdongPeople's Republic of ChinaPeople's Republic of China
Put first byClaude, ChatGPT——

Places with the same number of AIs are ordered by their average place in the AIs' own lists.

More ratings

03Worth knowing

What the AIs noticed while building the list.

Only about half of Chinese EV owners have their own home charger; about a third rely on shared chargers where they live.

Noticed by:
Included it: ChatGPT. Did not include: Claude.
Source ↗

China's 15 leading cities held 57% of its public chargers in 2022. The top 15 held 47% in the US and 23% in Europe.

Noticed by:
Included it: Claude, ChatGPT.
Source ↗

Chinese 'NEV' figures and London's include plug-in hybrids. Shanghai's fleet is 71% pure electric, so these figures read higher than battery-only ones.

Noticed by:
Included it: Claude. Did not include: ChatGPT.
Source ↗

Oslo (96.3% electric first registrations in 2025) and Amsterdam lead on adoption but have well under 5 million people, so they fall outside this list.

Noticed by:
Included it: Claude, ChatGPT.
Source ↗

04Questions people ask

What cities have the most electric cars?

Shanghai had 1.51 million NEVs at end-2024, Beijing over 1.3 million in Nov 2025 and Shenzhen about 1.19 million in late 2024. Guangzhou registered the most new ones in 2025 (365,964).

Source ↗
What US cities have the most electric cars?

Los Angeles led US cities with over 164,000 new retail EV registrations in 2025, ahead of San Francisco with 85,000+.

Source ↗
What is the electric car market share?

Electric cars were 12.01% of all vehicles on China's roads at end-2025 (43.97 million). Norway reached 95.9% of new-car registrations in 2025.

Source ↗
Why do charger counts for the same city differ?

Some counts cover only public chargers and others include private ones. Shanghai's end-2024 figures range from 171,800 to 913,000 depending on what is counted.

Source ↗

05How we counted

In plain words, no formulas.

1The question

Top 10 Big Cities Where Living With an Electric Car Is Easiest Day to Day

2Why this topic

It shows that sales share, the share of cars on the road and access to charging are three separate races, and that a city can lead one and trail another. No single table puts all three side by side.

3Where it applies

Global: large cities (about 5 million people or more) with public data

4What we looked at

  • Share of new-car sales that are electric
  • Share of all cars on the road that are electric
  • Public charging points per 1,000 electric cars
  • Chance of charging at home: rules for chargers at new-build parking, and the share of private chargers
  • ICCT (International Council on Clean Transportation) — Public chargers in Chinese and European cities, from 2021 and 2022 snapshots. Public chargers only, not home ones.
  • China Charging Alliance (EVCIPA) and National Energy Administration, via InsideEVs — National public and private charging points: 4.834 million public and 16.176 million private at end-February 2026
  • IEA Global EV Outlook 2026 — China survey: about half of EV owners have a home charger and about a third have shared residential access. National figures, not city ones.
  • City governments (Shenzhen, Shanghai, Beijing, Hangzhou) and Transport for London — Electric share of new sales and of cars on the road, charger totals that include private ones, and charger rules for

5Who ranked

The leading AIs, each building its own list of ten independently and naming a source for every place: Claude, ChatGPT.

6How the places were set

The same entry written differently by different AIs was counted as one. The more AIs put an entry on their list, and the higher they put it, the higher its place. "AI agreement" shows how many of the AIs had it on their own list. Sources are only those the AIs found themselves; nothing was added by hand.

06Each AI's own list

🇺🇸 Claude10 places · 4 notes

The same question, answered by Claude alone. The final list above combines all the AIs.

  1. 1
    Shenzhen, China

    Plug-in cars were about 27% of the whole fleet and over 75% of new sales in Jan–Oct 2024, and the city has more supercharging stations than petrol stations.

  2. 2
    Shanghai, China

    Home charging is where Shanghai pulls ahead: the Oct 2026 plan requires a charger or reserved installation at every new-build parking space. The city also had about 600 charging points per 1,000 NEVs in 2024, counting all types.

    Source ↗
  3. 3
    Beijing, China

    Beijing has about 490,000 charging piles for over 1.3 million NEVs, and more than 60% of new cars added in 2025 were NEVs.

    Source ↗
  4. 4
    Hangzhou, China

    Roughly 300,000 charging facilities for about 800,000 NEVs in 2024, but only about 34,000 of them were public.

    Source ↗
  5. 5
    Guangzhou, China

    Guangzhou registered more new NEVs in 2025 than any other Chinese city (365,964), yet I found no published fleet share or charger count for it.

    Source ↗
  6. 6
    Chengdu, China

    Chengdu has one of China's biggest NEV fleets without a licence-plate lottery, but its charger count is mostly a planning target.

    Source ↗
  7. 7
    London, UK

    About a third of cars registered in 2024 were plug-ins, against 27.5% for the UK. Home charging is the weak point in a city of terraces and flats.

    Source ↗
  8. 8
    Chongqing, China

    Chongqing's plan calls for chargers in 100% of new residential communities, but I found no actual fleet or charger totals.

    Source ↗
  9. 9
    Seoul, South Korea

    Seoul had only 1.53 EVs per charger in 2022, but electric cars were still a small share of its roads.

    Source ↗
  10. 10
    Los Angeles, USA

    Los Angeles led US cities with 164,000 new retail EV buyers in 2025, but US public charging per EV is the lowest of the big regions (3.4 per 100 EVs).

    Source ↗

What Claude noticed

Roughly three of every four chargers in China are private. The 2025 year-end split was about 15.4 million private and 4.7 million public. A city with plenty of public chargers can therefore still be hard to live with if residents cannot install one at home.

Source ↗

China's NEV fleet was 43.97 million, or 12.01% of all vehicles, at end-2025. Shenzhen was already near 27% in 2024, so the leading cities are far ahead of the national average.

Source ↗

Oslo and Amsterdam are the usual EV showcase cities but fall well below the roughly 5 million threshold. Norway as a whole reached 95.9% electric new-car registrations in 2025 and 97.6% in December.

Source ↗

Shanghai's Oct 2026 plan sets a 2030 target of over 40% of passenger cars electric, with a charger or reserved installation at every new-build parking space.

Source ↗
🇺🇸 ChatGPT10 places · 3 notes

The same question, answered by ChatGPT alone. The final list above combines all the AIs.

  1. 1
    Shenzhen, China

    ICCT counted 146,000 public chargers in 2022, the largest total among its listed cities.

    Source ↗
  2. 2
    Shanghai, China

    The city reported 17.18 million charging and swapping facilities by end-2024, including private and public equipment; the public subset is a much smaller figure.

    Source ↗
  3. 3
    Guangzhou, China

    The 2022 ICCT comparison counted 57,000 public chargers, placing it among China’s five largest city stocks in that dataset.

    Source ↗
  4. 4
    Wuhan, China

    Its 41,000 public chargers put it fourth among the Chinese cities listed in ICCT’s 2022 comparison.

    Source ↗
  5. 5
    Beijing, China

    ICCT counted 35,000 public chargers in 2022, fewer than Shanghai despite Beijing’s larger population by many city definitions.

    Source ↗
  6. 6
    Oslo, Norway

    Battery-electric cars were 96.3% of first-registered passenger cars in 2025, including used imports.

    Source ↗
  7. 7
    Amsterdam, Netherlands

    The national dashboard reports 41,255 charging points for Amsterdam in December 2025, counting home and workplace points as well as public infrastructure.

  8. 8
    Chengdu, China

    ICCT places Chengdu among China’s 15 leading public-charger cities, a group holding 57% of the country’s public-charger stock in 2022.

    Source ↗
  9. 9
    Hangzhou, China

    Hangzhou is among the 15 Chinese cities accounting together for 57% of public charger stock, according to ICCT’s 2022 city comparison.

    Source ↗
  10. 10
    London, United Kingdom

    ICCT’s 2022 comparison includes London among Europe’s major public-charging cities, but city boundaries and charger definitions make cross-city counts sensitive to method.

    Source ↗

What ChatGPT noticed

China dominates absolute public-charger totals: the 15 leading cities held 57% of the national stock in 2022, while the corresponding top 15 shares were 23% in Europe and 47% in the United States.

Source ↗

Oslo’s 96.3% figure describes first registrations including used imports; its 48.8% figure is the electric share of the broader county fleet. Treating either as the other would overstate or understate the transition.

Source ↗

A citywide charger total can conceal home-charging inequality: IEA’s China survey found about half of EV owners with a home charger and another third with shared residential access.

Source ↗