The Center for Sustainable Energy (CSE) announced this week that the California Energy Commission has awarded CSE a $15 million grant to develop and advance an initiative to install more electric vehicle (EV) charging stations in the state.
The commission’s decision further approves a statewide grant of $200 million with matching funds from regional and local governments for EV installations.
“This really changes the landscape of electric vehicle charging in California,” Colin Santulli, CSE director of Clean Transportation, said. “In addition to developing a variety of incentive projects, we will launch comprehensive marketing and education efforts to help make the public and target audiences aware of the incentives as they become available.”
With more than 216,000 plug-in EVs currently on California roads supported by approximately 3,600 charging stations, the state plans to streamline adequate charging infrastructure to support 1 million EVs by 2020. The end goal is to be able to support 1.5 million vehicles by 2025.
The Energy Commission grant was awarded as part of the Alternative and Renewable Fuel and Vehicle Technology Program, which encourages sustainable transportation and climate change policies in the state.