CA has better charger infrastructure than in most places of the world, and you can use the HOV lanes. That's a powerful incentive to stick with your EV.
In other parts of the country homes are more affordable though, and if you have a garage you can install your own L2 charger easily.
Unfortunately CA made the odd decision to expire all prior-to-a-couple-years-ago BEV HOV stickers, burning all the early adopters.
IOW: Got a white BEV sticker? That's worthless. You need the red sticker, only available on new BEVs.
At this point though, there’s so many EVs on the road in LA/SF that the HOV lanes aren’t necessarily faster.