Don't be fooled: only some electric cars are sold nationwide, even now

Almost seven years after modern electric cars entered the mass market, there are now more than two dozen battery-electric and plug-in hybrid models on sale in the U.S.

But that impressive number shouldn't disguise a fundamental truth about those vehicles: only about half of them are widely available nationwide.

Those include the BMW i3 electric car and i8 plug-in hybrid coupe, the Chevrolet Bolt EV and Volt plug-in hybrid, Nissan Leaf, and Tesla Model S and Model X.

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That's better than the number in mid-2014, which was just three: Chevy Volt, Nissan Leaf, and Tesla Model S.

But while some are nominally available in all markets—the Toyota Prius Prime in particular—buyers have reported dealers who claim that they're not sold in the state or the region.

The Prime's predecessor, the Plug-In Hybrid model of the third-generation Prius Liftback, suffered from the same problem. It's not limited to Toyota, either.

[EDITOR'S NOTE: This article was originally published on August 11, 2014, when modern electric cars had been on the market just three and a half years. Three years later, confusion among buyers still exists as to what vehicles are available where. We have updated the article accordingly.]

Many others on the list are plug-in hybrids from luxury brands, including BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, and Volvo, that start at $50,000 or more. That's above the reach of the average car buyer.

Holding back the market

"The single biggest issue holding plug-in electric vehicles back at this point is lack of available product," said noted electric-car advocate Chelsea Sexton in 2014.

"It's counter-intuitive, but it's true--even as there are many other challenges to address."

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And it's not clear that buyers who don't follow the market closely recognize the differences in availability among electric cars they may read about or see on television.

Plug-in cars on sale today fall into roughly three groups--though there are exceptions and qualifiers for many of them.

Volume or specialty car?

The Nissan Leaf, still the highest-selling electric car in the world after seven years, is available as a standard part of Nissan's product line at most dealers—and the same applies to the Bolt EV and Volt at roughly two-thirds of Chevy dealers.

Sales of both cars are clustered in certain areas, though, so while dealers may have one car on the lot, the Leaf or Volt may not be a high-volume item for some dealers.

In lightly populated regions and states with no incentives for plug-in cars, a car that plugs in is likely to be viewed by dealers as a specialty car more akin to a GT-R or a Corvette than a volume car.

Still, you can get a Leaf or a Volt or a Bolt EV from at least one dealer in all 50 states.

While the BMW i3 and i8 are available at all BMW dealers, fewer than 400 exist throughout the U.S., so it's possible that an actual i3 at a BMW dealer could be a fair distance away.

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As for the Tesla Model S and Model X, because buyers order the car online, it can be delivered in most states—though not Michigan, where legislative anti-Tesla sentiment runs strong.

Compliance cars

In 2014, the other end of the scale including so-called California compliance cars, whose makers sold them in very low numbers solely to meet the state's zero-emission vehicle requirements from 2012 through 2017.

Only two still exist: The Fiat 500e remains on sale only in California, though their very low used-car price means a few have been shipped to other states for eager buyers.

The Ford Focus Electric, meanwhile, is at least nominally on sale in states outside those with California emission rules. But buyers again report uninterested dealers who've never seen one, and likely never will, in some of those areas.

The other three—the Chevy Spark EV, Honda Fit EV, and Toyota RAV4 EV—sold in their required numbers and are now out of production.

Low-volume, in-between cars

It's between those two poles—old-style compliance cars and true volume cars—that things get more complicated and qualified.

Vehicles whose makers refuse to break out their sales numbers, from the Kia Soul EV through the well-reviewed Chrysler Pacific Hybrid plug-in minivan, are arguably a more current version of compliance cars.

The common thread across the variety of circumstances for each individual model, however, is that many plug-in vehicles remain not widely available and sell in low volumes.