California Moves to Increase EV Charging Stations

As California moves increasingly toward electronic vehicles, pressure will continue to mount for commercial, institutional and multifamily buildings to provide more EV charging stations. With the state government committed to phasing out gas-powered vehicles in just 12 years, the move to electric is inevitable. The state is also offering a highly stimulative energy rebate program for the purchase of EV vehicles.

Bob Raymer of California Code Consultants serves as a building code consultant to the Building Owners and Managers Association of California and provides regular updates on the new California building code, especially changes to the state’s green code. He recently warned of a “decarbonization tsunami heading toward California” that will drive green code reform. He advises building owners and managers to closely follow issues such as renewable energy fuel cells and battery technology.

Raymer told a recent BOMA codes seminar that mandates for new facilities require that 25% of space facilities be “EV capable” with conduit and panel that will eventually draw 240-volt capacity. Already, San Francisco requires that garages with 100 or more spaces install EV chargers in 10% of them this year.

California state energy officials in a recent statement said, “Electric vehicles play an important role in California’s efforts to reach its ambitious climate and air quality goals. These vehicles, which produce zero tailpipe emissions, also play a critical role in reaching the state’s goal of getting 1.5 million zero-emission vehicles on California roads by 2025.

“Through the Clean Transportation Program, formerly known as the Alternative and Renewable Fuel and Vehicle Technology Program, the California Energy Commission is investing in the charging infrastructure and technologies that are helping to drive the transition to clean, zeroemission electric vehicles throughout the state. The Energy Commission is also supporting strategic regional planning to support adoption of these vehicles.

The California Energy Commission is building a corridor of connecting, conveniently-located direct current fast chargers that allows drivers of electric vehicles the freedom to travel throughout the state.

“This is the largest network of publicly accessible charging stations in the United States. This network allows for the rapid charging of battery electric vehicles through out every major highway and thoroughfare in the Golden State. Targeting transportation corridors allows drivers of electric vehicles to travel throughout California and conveniently charge their cars in the least amount of time possible,” the report says.

In spite of some complaints that the EV systems isn’t extensive enough to meet debate, the network is quite impressive. The state energy commission says there are almost 24,000 charging stations in Los Angeles County, nearly 16,000 in Santa Cara County, 4,500 in Orange County and nearly 1,300 in San Francisco County, just to name a few this EV-intensive state. There and almost fast chargers 1,600 in Los Angeles County, 674 in Santa Clara County, 666 in Orange County, 534 in San Diego County and thousands more current or planned throughout the state.

Public charger counts are obtained from the AFDC Station Locator managed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). State law requires station operators or developers to report data on publicly available chargers to NREL. The AFDC Station Locator has been transitioning its counting methodology since 2019. The AFDC Station Locator now counts the number of ports available to charge a vehicle rather than the number of connectors as previously counted. This results in a lower count of chargers. In addition, a phase-out of the 3G cellular network in Quarter 1, 2022 has resulted in certain chargers being removed from the AFDC. These changes are expected to smooth out over time.

April 11-13, 2023

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