ELECTRIC: As of last year, there were three electric cars registered in McKean County.

That’s according to the Center for Rural Pennsylvania.

The center reported 11 in Elk County, one in Potter County and none in Cameron County.

As of May 2019, there were 449 public charging stations in Pennsylvania, 84 of which are located in rural areas.

“How many electric vehicles are on the highway? According to 2018 registration data from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, there are 6,900 registered electric vehicles in the commonwealth. In rural counties, there are 921 electric vehicles, or 0.03 percent of all rural vehicles. In urban counties, there are 5,979 electric vehicles, or 0.09 percent of all urban vehicles,” the center’s data said.

“The number of electric vehicles in both rural and urban counties is on the rise. Over the last 6 years (2013 to 2018), the number of electric vehicles increased by about 200 percent in rural counties and by nearly 500 percent in urban counties,” the data indicated.

“According to the most current estimates from the U.S. Department of Energy, in 2017, there were 366,940 electric vehicles on the road. Nearly one-half of these vehicles (49 percent) were registered in California.

“EVs captured less than 1 percent of new vehicle sales in 2017, according to the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, and only increased their share of the road by less than 1 percent from 2013 to 2017.

“While EVs do not appear to be gaining much traction presently, advancements in technology and/or new policies may change that outlook in the future. As clean energy options continue to be explored, it may be less a question of if EVs will dominate the market, and more a matter of when.”

Not surprisingly, the center’s map showed that the counties with the highest number of electric cars are much more populated than the local region. Montgomery County had the most, with 1,140, while Sullivan and Fulton counties each had none.