What New $1.4B CEC Funding Means to California

If you’re a Californian, this Thanksgiving season brought a lot to be thankful for, notwithstanding both the Rams and Chargers getting shellacked on the road nor the average 24% price increase of frozen turkeys. No, rather we’re referring to the three-year $1.4 billion funding initiative that was quietly approved by the California Energy Commission the week before the feast-filled holiday kicked off. The goal? Close the Golden State’s 2025 infrastructure funding gap and speed up the push toward Governor Newsom’s plan for a zero-emission “autopia.”

According to California’s Lead Commissioner for Transportation, Patty Monahan, the money is meant to ensure “access to charging… isn’t a barrier to those exploring cleaner transportation options including individuals, businesses and public agencies.” Almost 80% of the funding – some $1.08 billion – is allocated to electric charging and hydrogen fueling stations, and will be doled out to organizations like EVCS based on grants, solicitations, and direct funding agreements.

Our enthusiasm for the deal is largely due to the overlap between our mission and the initiative’s goals, namely the following:

1) Number of EV Chargers to Skyrocket

EVCS has long focused on reducing consumer concerns about range anxiety and infrastructure accessibility by expanding the number of publicly available chargers. Our strategy has been to install stations at key points of interest like freeway exits and on-ramps, shopping centers, parking structures, municipal buildings, offices and other commercial sites. These are the same types of sites where the CEC is looking for growth. With this additional funding, they estimate an additional 15,154 new chargers will go in the ground, an increase of 17% from the current 73,000 chargers the state has now.

2) A Focus on Fleets

Through 2021, California’s EV market share has been dominated by personal and light-duty vehicles, with medium- and heavy-duty vehicles historically slower to transition from traditional combustion engines. EVCS has been consistent in its position that without meaningful adoption by large-scale fleet operators, carbon neutral is unachievable, leading us to target educational, industrial, municipal and large-scale commercial institutions with infrastructure proposals. Thankfully, this new funding prioritizes fleet infrastructure like zero-emission school buses, transit buses and drayage trucks along with the chargers needed to power them.

3) Air Quality Improvement

“A mission to reduce emissions” has been the hallmark of EVCS since our founding, with the goal to create cleaner air and a more sustainable environment for the generations that will follow us. While major West Coast cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco have improved air quality over the last 30 years, they still remain some of the most polluted places in the nation. However, the new funding prioritizes the reduction of harmful airborne contaminants in frontline communities by focusing the greatest resources in those areas most affected, a strategy that coincides with our own efforts.

4) Low Income Neighborhoods to See Growth

Mass EV adoption is unlikely if only the wealthiest among us can afford to make the transition. Low- and middle-income earners need to feel as though going green will save them green, no matter how much they may believe in sustainability. Most choices start with the pocketbook. Charging installations must be ubiquitous and the electricity affordable. EVCS has made the development of disadvantaged communities a key part of our business model since our inception, so clearly, we were thrilled to see that no less than 51% of the CEC’s funds are allocated to servicing such areas.

Courtesy of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory

Our hope is that we can ultimately help the CEC lead the way in demonstrating what’s possible in the world of zero-emission transportation and that with any luck, it won’t be too many more Thanksgivings from now that we’ll be saying how grateful we are for a world where clean energy mobility is the norm instead of the ideal.

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Navigating California’s New EV Mandate

California’s going all in on electric. On August 25th, Governor Gavin Newsom made a very important announcement concerning the future of transportation in the Golden State: “We can solve this climate crisis if we focus on the big, bold steps necessary to cut pollution. California now has a groundbreaking, world-leading plan to achieve 100 percent zero-emission vehicle sales by 2035.” Big and bold, indeed. And while highly encouraging, it brings up a number of questions moving forward.

How EVCS is Repairing Reliability Concerns

One of the biggest concerns among EV drivers today is the reliability of public chargers. One recent survey from the Department of Bioengineering at UC Berkeley claims as many as 23% of public chargers in the Bay Area alone are, as Wired sums up, “nonfunctioning at any given time, stymied by broken screens, shoddy credit card or payment systems, network connection failures, or damaged plugs.” And that’s in a locale prioritizing the conversion to electric. Testimony from motorists seems to corroborate these findings. A CEC survey of 1,290 EV drivers found that fully 60% had experienced damaged or inoperable chargers, while almost half needed assistance from customer service. We find this wholly unacceptable and have taken measures to ensure that chargers in the EVCS network rise to the standard of operability our customers expect. Here are a few ways we’re doing that:

Installation of the Month (July 2022): Kenwood Inn & Spa

A key focus for us over the last several years has been the installation of additional chargers at holiday hot spots, tourist destinations, and other key points of interest. Not only will it help dispel long-range travel anxiety among many new EV drivers, but it will also lead to a significant reduction in carbon emissions otherwise generated by gas-guzzlers during peak vacation seasons. Moreover, our egalitarian approach to site selection means we’re just as likely to install a charger at a McDonald’s as we are at a Morton’s since we understand the value in catering to a broad clientele. However, higher net worth individuals continue to drive EV sales in the US (a June 2021 Fuels Institute study specifies middle-aged males with household incomes over $100,000), so catering to venues that offer a luxury experience will encourage even greater participation by this group while serving as a bellwether for lower-income drivers who are attracted to the idea of electric mobility as a symbol of status.

Mexico to Canada EV Road Trip: EVCS Interview

We sat down with EV owner and enthusiast Anthony Williams, a 60-year-old business owner from San Diego, who recently commemorated the 10-year anniversary of his first trans-American road trip in an EV by retracing the same route to see what had changed in the world of EV fast charging, for better or for worse. Below are some of his insights and feedback.

Installation of the Month (June 2022): KPC Anaheim Global Medical Center

“For us, healthcare is not only about caring for our patients, but also about investing in the people who live in our communities.” These are the words emblazoned across the home page of the KPC Anaheim Global Medical Center’s website. Facilities like these are attractive partners for us because, like us, their goal is the betterment of humanity. In fact, just replace “healthcare” with “electric mobility” and “patients” with “planet,” and you have the EVCS mission statement in a nutshell. Allying with kindred spirits creates a natural synergy for us through the sharing of core values like customer service and an improved quality of life. Imagine then our excitement when KPC decided to install four of our newest DC fast chargers on their Anaheim property, giving us the opportunity to continue expanding our network southward.