Santa Clara County Leads U.S. in EV Adoption as Bay Area Sweeps Top 5

New data from the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey shows that Santa Clara County leads the United States in electric vehicle adoption, with nearly 25% — about 24%, or 163,000 households — owning or leasing at least 1 electric or plug-in hybrid vehicle, as Bay Area counties swept the top 5 spots nationwide (KTVU FOX 2). Across the South Bay, NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View is training astronauts on its lunar landing simulator (NBC Bay Area), a San Jose jury awarded $8 million to the family of a teenager with autism in a countersuit against a neighbor (NBC Bay Area), and the Franklin-McKinley School District board voted 4-1 to censure Trustee Marc Cooper (San José Spotlight).

Bay Area Sweeps Top 5 U.S. Counties for Electric Vehicle Adoption

In the first release of household EV adoption figures from the American Community Survey (conducted annually since 2005), the U.S. Census Bureau reported that almost 14% of California households had at least 1 electric vehicle in 2025 — more than double the national average of 5.5% — including 18% of owner-occupied households and 9% of renter households (KTVU FOX 2). Behind Santa Clara County (24%), Marin, San Mateo, Alameda, and Contra Costa counties rounded out the top 5 counties in the nation, followed by Orange County in 6th and Napa County in 7th; 20 of the top 25 U.S. counties were in California.

Census Bureau survey statistician Tricia Holley noted that Western states led the nation behind California, with Washington (8.9%), Hawaii (8.5%), Nevada (8.2%), and Vermont (7.7%) next highest, while North Dakota (1.3%), Wyoming (1.6%), Louisiana (1.6%), South Dakota (1.8%), and Mississippi (1.8%) recorded the lowest shares. According to the California Energy Commission, Californians purchased 86,857 new zero-emission vehicles in the second quarter of 2026 (19.1% of new car sales, including 16.6% battery-electric vehicles), and in August Gov. Gavin Newsom launched the MyFirstEV instant point-of-sale incentive offering up to $3,500 toward a first-time zero-emission vehicle purchase or lease ahead of the state's 2035 zero-emission new-vehicle sales mandate established in 2020 (KTVU FOX 2).

NASA Ames Lunar Simulator, $8M San Jose Autism Verdict, and Franklin-McKinley Board Vote

At NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, engineers and pilots are using a motor- and hydraulic-driven lunar landing simulator to train astronauts for upcoming moon landings and spacecraft operations (NBC Bay Area).

In San Jose, a jury ruled in favor of Serena Arvayo and her 14-year-old son Ezequiel ("Zeke"), who has Level 3 autism, awarding the family $8 million in a countersuit after a neighbor sued them claiming the boy's backyard sounds were a "nuisance" that lowered her property value and caused emotional distress (NBC Bay Area). Although the Arvayo family moved out of her father's rental home to avoid further conflict, the neighbor maintained her lawsuit, prompting Arvayo and attorneys Elizabeth Hansen, Missy Cornejo, and Ron Rossi of Behar Gibbs Savage Paulson, LLP to countersue and take both cases to trial.

Also in San Jose, the Franklin-McKinley School District board voted 4-1 on Tuesday on a resolution introduced by Trustee Rudy Rodriguez to censure Trustee Marc Cooper and request his resignation over remarks about 9/11 perpetrators made at a Sept. 8 board meeting that followed an initial Sept. 22 board rebuke (San José Spotlight). Santa Clara County Board of Education trustee Maimona Afzal Berta (who joined the Franklin-McKinley board in 2018), Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) Executive Director Zahra Billoo, and NAACP San Jose/Silicon Valley called for Cooper to step down, while Board President Hong Ha Hoang said staff will study policy changes including removing censured trustees from committees and liaison assignments. Cooper cast the lone dissenting vote, was defended at the meeting by speakers Dawn Suiter and Brandi Madison, and stated that he will not resign.