Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Assessment

The Assembly Bill 2127 Second Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Assessment examines charging needs to support California’s plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) in 2030 and 2035. Under AB 2127, the California Energy Commission (CEC) is required to publish a biennial report on the charging needs of 5 million zero emission vehicles (ZEVs) by 2030. In September 2020, Governor Gavin Newsom issued Executive Order N-79-20, which directed the Commission to update this assessment to support expanded ZEV adoption targets. 

In 2018, Executive Order B-48-18 had set a goal of having 250,000 chargers (including 10,000 direct current fast chargers) by 2025. As of mid-2023, California has installed more than 91,000 public and shared chargers, including nearly 10,000 direct current fast chargers.  

This report projects 1.01 million public and shared private chargers are needed to support 7.1 million passenger plug-in electric vehicles in 2030, and 2.11 million public and shared private chargers are needed to support 15.2 million passenger plug-in electric vehicles in 2035. An additional 114,500 chargers are needed to support the 157,000 medium- and heavy-duty vehicles anticipated for 2030. 

This expansion of charging will require widespread investment in the grid and effective management of California’s electrical grid to reduce potential impacts. Improving charger and vehicle technology along with grid upgrades will make it possible to accommodate charging in ways that will minimize the grid impact.

Installing these chargers will require investments in labor and workforce training and development, as up to 71,500 job-years will be needed for charger installation by 2035. The transition to ZEVs and supporting infrastructure will support jobs of the future.

Assembly Bill 2127 Second Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Assessment: Assessing Charging Needs to Support Zero-Emission Vehicles in 2030 and 2035

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Background

Assembly Bill 2127, authored by Assembly member Phil Ting and adopted in 2019 as Section 25229 of the California Public Resources Code, requires the California Energy Commission to prepare an assessment of the charging infrastructure needed to meet the 2030 goals of 5 million ZEVs and a 40% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions below 1990 levels. These efforts will leverage past work by the Energy Commission and others, and will be coordinated with several ongoing activities.

Relevant past work includes the Energy Commission's 2018 report California Plug-In Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Projections 2017- 2025 utilizing the “EVI-Pro” tool, as well as other material in the 18-EVI-01 docket log. AB 2127 efforts also leverage work on the 2019 Integrated Energy Policy Report (IEPR) and 2020 IEPR Update, independent stakeholder reports on charging infrastructure, publicly-owned utilities’ Integrated Resources Plans, and other agency and utility activities promoting electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

The Energy Commission coordinates the following activities to inform and adapt into the inaugural charging infrastructure assessment:

Workshops and stakeholder comments related to the 2020 IEPR Update, the AB 2127 charging infrastructure assessment itself, and parallel infrastructure activities including ensuring equitable access and accounting for deployed chargers
The 2020 update to the California Vehicle-Grid Integration Roadmap
Energy Commission, other agency, and utility activities promoting adoption of plug-in electric vehicles in all sectors and supporting infrastructure deployment
New work with contractors to update the Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Projections (“EVI-Pro”) model and to create a new model (“HEVI-LOAD”) accounting for on-road medium- and heavy-duty electric vehicles

Reports

Assembly Bill 2127 Second Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Assessment: Assessing Charging Needs to Support Zero-Emission Vehicles in 2030 and 2035

Commission Report, Published March 6, 2024
Revised Staff Report, Published January 26, 2024

Assembly Bill 2127 Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Assessment - Analyzing Charging Needs to Support Zero-Emission Vehicles in 2030 and 2035

Staff Report

Assembly Bill 2127 Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Assessment - Analyzing Charging Needs to Support Zero-Emission Vehicles in 2030

Related Analysis

California Air Resources Board 2020 Mobile Source Strategy
California Public Utilities Commission
- Open Proceeding Information
- Transportation Electrification Framework - PDF
U.S. Department of Energy EVI-Pro Lite