WORCESTER — Electric vehicle adoption in Worcester County grew nearly fivefold over the past five years but remains rare on the county’s roads, according to a new report, “On Track for Zero Emissions?” from the Worcester Regional Research Bureau.
The share of registered vehicles classified as zero-emissions — battery electric and plug-in hybrid models, under the state’s definition — rose from 0.44% in January 2021 to 2.21% in January 2026, the report found. Despite that growth, Worcester County ranked ninth of Massachusetts’ 14 counties in zero-emissions vehicle miles traveled per capita in 2025, trailing more urban and affluent counties to the east.
Adoption varies sharply within the county. Harvard led all 60 Worcester County municipalities in 2025, with more than 10% of its vehicle miles traveled coming from zero-emissions vehicles, while communities in the western third of the county lagged far behind. Between 2021 and 2026, the number of conventional gas-powered vehicles registered countywide fell by 1,044, even as hybrid registrations grew by nearly 21,000 and zero-emissions registrations grew by more than 12,000. Shrewsbury saw an especially sharp shift, gaining nearly 2,900 hybrid and zero-emissions vehicles while losing more than 1,800 conventional ones.
The report ties adoption patterns closely to income and education. Census tracts with higher median household incomes, more residents holding bachelor’s degrees, and more people working from home consistently showed higher shares of zero-emissions vehicle travel, a pattern the bureau said is consistent with national academic research on EV ownership.
Cost remains a barrier: the average new electric vehicle sold for $58,034 in December 2025, compared with $50,326 for the average new car overall, according to data the report cites from Kelley Blue Book. The state’s rebate program, which offers $3,500 to $6,000 toward an EV purchase, has been claimed unevenly across the county — Harvard residents alone received more than $571,000 in rebates since 2023, or $81 per resident.
Charging access poses another obstacle, the report found. More than 1,000 charging ports exist across Worcester County, but 78% are slower Level 2 chargers that can take four to ten hours for a substantial charge, and many are restricted to employees, students or visitors of the institutions that host them. The report noted that EV owners drive roughly 10 more miles a day on average than owners of gas-powered vehicles, adding pressure on charging availability.
The bureau’s recommendations call for state and municipal governments to accelerate investment in charging infrastructure, including spending federal highway charging funds that have already been allocated but not yet used, increasing the density of fully public charging stations and DC fast chargers, gathering municipal input on charger placement, and offering zoning incentives for charging infrastructure development.
The report cautions that electric vehicles alone won’t resolve the broader challenges of car-dependent infrastructure, including parking demand and traffic safety, and argues that continued investment in public transit, walking and biking options should accompany the shift to electric vehicles.
