Tracking and Improving Reliability of California’s Electric Vehicle Chargers: Regulations for Improved Electric Vehicle Charger Recordkeeping and Reporting, Reliability, and Data Sharing

This California Energy Commission staff report Tracking and Improving Reliability of California’s Electric Vehicle Chargers proposes new regulations that would, for electric vehicle chargers installed outside single-family homes and multifamily dwellings of four or fewer dwelling units:  

1. Track the number and location of all chargers. 
2. Track the usage of all networked chargers.   
3. Require reliability record keeping and reporting for all state- and ratepayer funded chargers installed on or after January 1, 2024, for six years. 
4. Require all state- and ratepayer-funded chargers installed on or after January 1, 2024, to meet a 97 percent uptime standard for six years.  
5. Require all publicly available state- and ratepayer-funded chargers installed on or after January 1, 2024, to share real-time data on the availability and accessibility of the chargers. 
6. Require all state- and ratepayer-funded chargers installed on or after January 1, 2026, to meet a 90 percent successful charge attempt rate standard for six years. 

These regulations, proposed under Assembly Bill 2127 (Ting, Chapter 365, Statutes of 2018), assign the California Energy Commission the responsibility of evaluating the required number of electric vehicle chargers to meet the state's adoption objectives. This evaluation requires a detailed understanding of operational charger counts and real-world usage. Assembly Bill 2061 (Ting, Chapter 345, Statutes of 2022) directs the Commission to develop charger uptime recordkeeping standards and deliver biennial infrastructure reliability assessments starting in 2025. 

Assembly Bill 126 (Reyes, Chapter 319, Statutes of 2023) further directs the Commission to adopt tools to increase charging station uptime, including requirements for operation and maintenance. Additionally, it mandates the establishment of standards for customer information regarding the availability and accessibility of public charging infrastructure by January 1, 2025.