Transportation Electrification in the Southeast: Southern Alliance for Clean Energy Releases Seventh Annual Report

The Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (“SACE”) issued on September 8th its seventh annual report titled:

Transportation Electrification in the Southeast (“Report”).

The authors of the Report include:

• Matthew Vining, Policy Analyst, Atlas Public Policy.
• Kelley Flanagan, Policy Associate I, Atlas Public Policy.
• Stan Cross, Electric Transportation Program Director, Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (Contributing Author).
• Dory Larsen, Senior Electric Transportation Program Manager, Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (Contributing Author).

SACE describes its objectives as including:

… promoting responsible and equitable energy choices to ensure clean, safe, and healthy communities throughout the Southeast. As a leading voice for energy policy in our region, SACE states it is focused on transforming the way we produce and consume energy in the Southeast.

The organization is active in the following States:

• Alabama
• Florida
• Georgia
• North Carolina
• South Carolina
• Tennessee

The Report provides what it describes as a “state of play” for transportation electrification in the Southeast, focused on changes from July 2025 through June 2026.

Key conclusions from the Report include:

• The Southeast remains the nation’s leader in EV manufacturing investment and employment, accounting for 40 percent of announced U.S. EV manufacturing investment and 32 percent of announced EV manufacturing jobs, totaling nearly $74 billion and more than 61,300 jobs.
• Southeast crossed 1,137,000 cumulative new passenger EV sales and recorded nearly 225,000 sales in the past 12 months, registering 25 percent year-over-year growth.
• EV driver satisfaction reached an all-time high, and the EV market expanded with the Southeast recording 140,800 used EV sales in the last 12 months.
• Investment by the Region’s investor-owned utilities increased by 14 percent year-over-year, though the Region continues to trail the national average in IOU EV investments per utility customer.

Components of the Report include:

• Manufacturing Employment and Investment
• EV Sales and Market Share Trends
• Charging Deployment
• Utility Investment
• Public Funding
• Policy Highlights

A copy of the Report can be found here.