- California’s Energy Commission (CEC), alongside the California Department of Transportation, announced a major boost to the West Coast state’s public EV charging infrastructure, this week.
- With over $32m in federal funds granted, coming from the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program, the money will go twards deploying 458 DC fast chargers along major interstates and highways across California.
A boost to California’s public charging
The news, coming just days after Illinois marked World EV Day™ by announcing a $25.3m investment to also install public chargers along major interstates, will be a major help to creating electric highways not only in California, but for cross-state travel, with all states within the United States eligible for NEVI funding. Just like in other states, only California’s ‘Alternative Fuel Corridors’ are initially eligible for the funding. The exact interstates and highways eligible, can be seen here. Over the next few years, the state expects to receive a total of $384m from the fund, as it continues expanding the state’s charging infrastructure
California has already seen rapid EV charger growth over the last few years, with the state accounting for a significant majority of the entire country’s chargers – with over 150,000 in California, out of the 192,000 EV chargers across the United States. That’s not surprising though, considering it’s the chosen headquarters of EV brands such as Tesla, Lucid Motors, and Rivian.
Acting Federal Highway Administrator, Kristin White, commented:
“California continues to be a leader in the sustainable revolution with this milestone investment to install over 500 EV chargers with $32 million in federal NEVI funding. Thanks to the historic investments from the Biden-Harris Administration, California is helping to lead the nation in deploying clean energy infrastructure, expanding access to EV charging, and meeting our carbon reduction goals.”
California Energy Commission Commissioner, Patty Monahan, added:
“We’d like to thank the Biden-Harris administration for their commitment to eliminating harmful emissions not only in California but across the country. With this round of awards, the state exceeded the federal requirement for private investment by nearly threefold, significantly increasing the number of chargers funded per federal dollar. This is further proof that California is all in on zero-emission transportation.”
