California seeks feedback on types of EV chargers to prioritize in funding plan

California should fund a variety of electric vehicle charging stations over a focus on a "gas station" approach emphasizing DC fast chargers, public commenters at a California Energy Commission workshop said Jan. 29.

The state has the one of the largest zero-emission vehicle charging station networks in the country. The CEC's biannual tracker last showed the state had 152,356 public and shared private chargers back in August 2024.

The EV charger funding program could be impacted in the future by a drawdown in federal funds, CEC representative Thanh Lopez said during the webcast workshop. The state's Clean Transportation Program's base funding mostly comes from a fee from vehicle registrations in the state, she said. President Trump's recent flurry of executive orders included a pause on federal spending for EV chargers.

"Onus will be increasingly put on state-level policies to drive EV uptake, which is likely to widen adoption rates between states," Commodity Insights analysts said in the Jan. 29 edition of EV Essentials.

The state's energy commission is developing a 2025-2030 action plan for supporting ZEV infrastructure growth. The plan includes two proposed funding scenarios assuming an annual investment of $37 million in project funding: the base strategy and a strategy focused on DC fast chargers.

The base strategy proposes that the CEC directs "half of its annual base funding towards DC fast charging ports, a quarter of its annual base funding towards workplaces, and a quarter of its annual base funding towards multifamily housing." This strategy prioritizes Level 2 charging stations for multifamily housing units and DC fast charging in rural areas of the state.

Under this base funding scenario, "California will need to install 313,000 shared private Level 1 and Level 2 chargers at multifamily housing sites, 656,000 public and shared private Level 2 chargers at commute destinations and other activity locations, and 32,800 DC fast chargers," the CEC said.

The alternative strategy offers a focus on DC fast charging stations in a pattern that the CEC compares to incumbent gas stations. This scenario "models future charging needs where a driver prefers DC fast charging over all other away-from-home charging options."

"Under this scenario, installing 63,000 additional DC fast charging ports by 2030 would decrease the need for Level 2 charging ports at workplaces and public locations by about 400,000," the CEC said. "This reduces the total number of sites that need to be developed and the associated work to develop those sites, including permitting, energization, and other site-specific activities."

Infrastructure

Speakers at the workshop shared a preference for focusing on deploying infrastructure that best meets the needs of the population and deploying lower-power chargers in workspaces and multifamily areas.

Jon Hart with EV charger deployer PowerFlex advocated for the base model that includes more Level 2 and lower-power chargers. He said he "would definitely not want to see a majority of the funding go towards a gas station-type model."

The base model would encourage more workplace charger deployments, which has lower greenhouse gas emissions and provides the "lowest utility cost" since workplace charging takes place during the day, Hart said. This type of charging also helps the state with load management by not having most EV charging take place at night, he said.

Kristian Corby, deputy executive director at the California Electric Transportation Coalition, did not provide a specific preference for a funding model. The "gas station" fast charger model supports the need for a fast infrastructure rollout, but the consequences are added pressure on utilities to roll out high-demand infrastructure, he said.

Corby recommended that the CEC allowed for more flexibility in its deployment of lower-power chargers. Level 1 chargers are "great" for distributing limited power "to as many people as you can," he said regarding strategy for multifamily charging support. Higher power stations can see a higher premium in ongoing and upfront costs, he added.

Written comments for the ZEV infrastructure plan are due by Feb. 7 and the revised draft is slated for a May 2025 release.