Highlight
- Statewide, public charging infrastructure is gradually expanding. As long-range ZEVs become more common, Level 2 and DC fast charging infrastructure are increasingly being selected in place of Level 1 charging stations. Since ZEV penetration is lower in more rural and less-populous metro areas, these areas also tend have a greater number of charging stations per electric vehicle; non-MSA areas have the second-lowest number of EVs per non-DC public charging station (9.5) behind only Napa (7.8). Most notably, public charging infrastructure is expanding most rapidly in less urban areas (El Centro MSA, Fresno MSA, Stockton-Lodi MSA and non-MSA areas in California).
Challenge
- California Energy Commission’s study of Assembly Bill 212771 estimates that the state needs 1.164 million charging stations—including 508 thousand public and DC fast charging stations—to achieve the goals of the Executive Order N-79-20.72 As of June 22, 2021, there were 33,261 public Level 1, Level 2 and DC fast charging stations in California—or 6.5 percent of the goal of the Executive Order. In 2020, a $437 million utility-based program was approved by the CPUC, which will add 38,000 new charging stations,73 in addition to a $44 million program approved in 2021 that will deploy 2,000 stations. The CEC report assumes an additional 123,000 charging stations installed by 2025, which leaves a gap of 972,000 charging stations or $11.2 billion needed to achieve the goals of the Executive Order. This gap may be revised downward, based on recent approval of other additional programs from SDG&E and PG&E which could add another 18,000 stations by 2025.
71 Signed into law in 2018. Retrieved from: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB2127
72 The full report (CEC-600-2021-001-REV) is available on California Energy Commission’s website at: https://www.energy.ca.gov/news/2021-06/report-shows-california-needs-12-million-electric-vehicle-chargers-2030
73 The California PUC proposed decision can be viewed here: https://docs.cpuc.ca.gov/PublishedDocs/Published/G000/M345/K702/345702701.PDF
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