It took some time, but there is now officially a Tesla Model S registered in each of the 50 states. The last state to finally get in line was Mississippi. They were actually the hold-out for eight months as the only state without a registered Tesla Model S.
Polk registration data confirmed the registration of the vehicle in Jackson, Mississippi. The state wasn’t just the last to resister the car, but also has the smallest market share of electric vehicles in the country.
It was back in June 2012 when the Tesla Model S first launched. They started out in California and quickly grew over the next six months. By year’s end, they were already registered in 42 states and Washington, DC. April of 2013 saw the second to last state, West Virginia, finally getting a registered Tesla Model S, but Mississippi remained unconquered territory until the end of November.
What were they driving instead in Mississippi? The biggest seller in the state was large trucks which accounted for about 20% of the state’s registrations last year.
It took just 18 months for a Tesla Model S to be registered in every state, which may seem like a long time until you compare it to other vehicles. The Nissan Leaf took 23 months, finally nabbing North Dakota as its last state. On the flip side, the Chevy Volt took just 11 months to end its sweep of the country in Montana and South Dakota.
The Tesla Model S might be in every state, but it is by far most popular where it started in California. That one state accounts for 48% of all Tesla Model S registrations in the country.
The popularity of the Tesla Model S in California isn’t quite enough to put the state at the top of the pack for electric vehicle market share. That honor goes to the states of Washington and Hawaii which lead with 1.6% over a close 1.4% in California.
Nicole Wakelin fell in love with cars as a teenager when she got to go for a ride in a Ferrari. It was red and it was fast and that was all that mattered. Game over. She considers things a bit more carefully now, but still has a weakness for fast, beautiful cars. Nicole also writes for NerdApproved and GeekMom.
