Dive Brief:

• Critical stakeholders including automakers, labor representatives, environmentalists and service providers now support the San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) proposal to install electric vehicle (EV) charging stations at up to 550 sites and offer special rates for charging during off-peak hours, City News Services reports.
• The SDG&E initiatives, if approved in a California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) decision expected this year, would put 10 chargers at each site and provide a choice of rate options and equipment. At least 10% of the chargers would be placed in disadvantaged and under-served communities to expand EV access.
• The proposal supports Governor Jerry Brown’s plan to get 1.5 million zero-emission vehicles on California roads by 2025. It also supports the Governor’s 50% renewables mandate by providing San Diego’s 16,000 EV drivers with lower electricity rates to charge during hours when the grid has more solar or wind power generating electricity.

Dive Insight:

All three of California’s dominant investor-owned utilities have proposals for expanded EV charger programs awaiting approval by the CPUC.

PG&E wants to build 25,000 level two charging stations and 100 DC fast charging stations at a cost of $653.8 million. The bill impact would reach only $0.001 per kWh over the next five years, adding an estimated $0.70 per month to the typical residential customer’s bill from 2018 to 2022.

The Southern California Edison $355 million Charge Ready Programs would build 31,500 charging stations by 2020 and result in a rate increase of $0.001 per kWh, or 0.1% to 0.3% of the average bill.

The SDG&E $103 million electric vehicle-grid integration (VGI) plan was designed to test customer response to variable rates for vehicle charging. The 550 charging stations built between 2015 and 2025 would cost approximately $59 million and the ten year operations and maintenance cost would add $44 million.