California approves $1.9B investment into zero-emission transportation infrastructure

On Wednesday, the California Energy Commission (CEC) announced it had approved a $1.9 billion plan to invest in the state’s electric vehicle charging and hydrogen refueling goals.

The plan will help deploy charging and refueling stations for the light, medium and heavy-duty zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) across the state and create an extensive charging and hydrogen refueling network.

“We need to make sure that this is zero emission refueling infrastructure for everybody,” Patty Monahan, CEC’s lead commissioner for transportation, said. “By investing a bulk of funds to benefit low-income and disadvantaged communities, the state is making sure communities most in need have better access to chargers and less pollution from trucks and buses.”

According to the plan, CEC’s Clean Transportation Program will spend the $1.9 billion over the next four years, targeting at least 50 percent on priority populations. The funding is part of $48 billion from the California Climate Commitment, which includes more than $10 billion for ZEVs and ZEV infrastructure. Other funding comes from the federal government’s initiatives for clean transportation.

Officials said the funding will result in 40,000 new chargers across the state, joining the nearly 94,000 public and shared private chargers installed currently. Combined with previous investment plans, the state expects to have 250,000 chargers installed in the next five years, not including private installations and home chargers.

According to a CEC assessment of the EV charging infrastructure needs, the state will have 7.1 million EVs by 2030, which will need 1 million chargers, as well as 155,000 electric trucks and buses, which will need 114,500 chargers. By 2035, the state is expected to have 15.2 million EVs needing 2.1 million chargers, ad 377,000 electric trucks and buses that will need 264,000 chargers.