Access to highly reliable and dependable charging stations is critical to increasing consumer confidence in electric vehicle (EV) adoption and determining whether there is equitable access to reliable charging stations.
The California Energy Commission (CEC) has adopted EV Charger Data and Reliability Standards, which are applicable to EV charging stations, excluding those at single-family homes and multi-family dwellings with fewer than four dwelling units. Applicability of the standards, and who must report information to the CEC, varies based on the date the charger was installed, whether it received public funding, and the type of charger.
Regulation Applicability and Requirements
This summary is a simplified overview of the regulations. Please consult the Full Regulatory Text of EV Charging Data and Reliability Standard for details.
- Applicability: All EV charging stations, with some exceptions (such as private residential chargers).
- What’s required: Reporting the number, location, and specification of EV chargers to the CEC.
- Inventory Reporting
- Applicability: Direct current fast chargers (DCFCs) that received public funding, were installed on or after January 1, 2024, and do not exclusively serve fleets.
- What’s required:
- Chargers must report reliability to the CEC. Networked charger installed on or after September 28, 2026, must report using the OCPP 2.0.1 protocol and transmit the Hourly Charger Data Reporting Specification.
- Chargers must meet a 97 percent uptime standard, with certain exclusions.
- Uptime Reporting and Performance Standard
- Applicability: Level 2 and DCFCs that received public funding, were installed on or after January 1, 2024, and are publicly available.
- What’s required: Chargers must share data on charger availability, accessibility, and real-time pricing with third party software developers via an API.
- Availability Data Sharing
- Enrolled charging network providers serve as the recordkeeping and reporting agent for publicly or rate payer funded, networked DCFCs that were installed on or after September 28, 2026, and not exempted from the reporting requirements.
- Any charging network provider may apply to become an enrolled charging network provider by submitting the application and meeting the technical requirements.
- The technical requirements include meeting and maintaining:
- The ability to transmit the data as required by Hourly Charger Data Reporting Specification.
- A Subset Certification of the Charging Station Management System in the Open Charge Alliance OCPP Certification Program for OCPP.
- If applicant is determined to meet the above requirements, the charging network provider will be granted access to the transfer of data portal. If the charging network provider successfully demonstrates its ability to transfer the Hourly Charger Data Reporting Specification data within 60 days, the applicant will be deemed an enrolled charging network provider.
Enrolled Charging Network Provider Application. Completed forms should be emailed to enrolledcharger@energy.ca.gov.
- Addresses of private and shared-private chargers
- Utilization data for individual chargers
- Charger serial numbers (upon request)
- CEC will enforce reliability and inventory requirements through the terms of its grant agreements, if applicable.
- CEC will publish biennial reports ranking charging network reliability starting in 2026.
- State agencies will consider reliability data when making funding decisions.
- Networks can dispute published metrics through a formal process.