California’s much-needed buildout of electric vehicle charging stations has received a boost from a federally funded program, with some of the money going toward constructing 20 fast-chargers along freeways in the greater San Diego area.
More than $32 million from the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Formula Program, known as NEVI, will install, operate and maintain 458 direct-current fast chargers along interstates and highways across the Golden State.
An additional $5 million is expected to be approved before the end of the year.
The allocations, announced last week by the California Energy Commission and the California Department of Transportation, include setting aside $1.86 million to build 20 fast chargers along sections of Interstates 8, 15 and 805 between San Diego and Riverside counties. The exact locations have yet to be announced.
“California is building a transportation network for the 21st century, and this federal funding helps support that commitment,” Caltrans director Tony Tavares said in a statement.
Under NEVI funding guidelines, each station will have a minimum of four 150-kilowatt Combined Charging System connectors and total station power of at least 600 kilowatts. Stations will be located no more than 50 miles apart and no more than one mile from a freeway exit or highway roadway.
At least 40 percent of NEVI benefits must go to locations in disadvantaged, low-income, rural and tribal communities.
Funding for the $5 billion NEVI program comes from the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that Congress passed and President Joe Biden signed into law in November 2021. Over the next several years, California expects to receive $384 million from NEVI.
Constructing charging stations will be crucial for California to meet its ambitious electric vehicle targets. One of the chief concerns that potential buyers of EVs have is “range anxiety” — the fear of being stranded on long trips if their car conks out before it gets to a charging station.
Last month, state officials announced that in the first half of this year, California added more than 24,000 chargers available to the public. That brought the number of charging stations to more than 150,000.
The figure includes nearly 138,000 Level 2 chargers that add 14 to 35 miles of range to a vehicle per hour of charging time and almost 15,000 fast chargers that can add 100 to 250 miles of range in 30 to 45 minutes. The numbers include private charging stations the public can access.
That’s a decent boost in numbers but it’s still a long way from state projections of having 1.01 million public and shared private chargers up and running in California by 2030.
Four years ago, Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order mandating the elimination of all new sales of gasoline-powered passenger vehicles in California by 2035. The first of a series of staggered state-imposed sales targets for zero-emission vehicles will roll out in just two years.
The state defines a zero-emission vehicle as all-electric, plug-in hybrids and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. At last count, 1.99 million cars and trucks that meet the designation are on California’s roads — more than any other state, by far.
Earlier this year, the energy commission approved more than $1 billion in spending for charging projects for cars, trucks and buses.