caltrans
In a boost for electric vehicle reliability, the U.S. Department of Transportation has awarded Caltrans more than $63 million in federal funds to fix and install more than 1,000 chargers at 300 sites statewide.
The $63.7 million from the federal Electric Vehicle Charger Reliability and Accessibility Accelerator (EVC RAA) grant program – part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law – will replace broken charging stations and install additional chargers to meet new federal standards for public charging infrastructure.
“Thanks to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, California will receive nearly $64 million to improve EV charging stations across the state,” said Senator Alex Padilla. “Accelerating the adoption of an electric vehicle powered future requires a strong, reliable, accessible charging network across the state.”
“This funding will allow California to continue to lead the nation in zero-emission-vehicle adoption, increasing reliability and cutting planet-warming pollution,” said California State Transportation Secretary Toks Omishakin. “We want to thank the Biden-Harris Administration, Sen. Alex Padilla, and the state’s congressional delegation for supporting the expansion of a charging network throughout the state while combatting climate change.”
“Increasing the accessibility and standardization of EV charging stations will help us to build a more modern transportation system,” said Tony Tavares, Caltrans director. “This latest federal funding will support Caltrans in achieving its climate action goals.”
“As EVs go mainstream, ensuring a reliable charging network is a top priority,” said Patty Monahan, commissioner of the California Energy Commission (CEC). “As California’s lead agency for building out charging infrastructure, the Energy Commission includes reliability requirements for our grants, but many chargers aren’t covered by these requirements. This federal funding will help fix and upgrade broken EV chargers, giving EV drivers more options for convenient refueling.”
The EVC RAA program is part of the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program and made funding available for states to repair or replace EV charging stations identified as “temporarily unavailable.”
For the application, Caltrans worked with EV charging providers to develop a list of chargers to fix and upgrade to national charging standards within the program timeline. The funding will support the replacement of both Level 2 and DC fast chargers. Caltrans will partner with the CEC to implement this funding, building on the agencies’ partnership to deliver the NEVI Formula Program.
HOW WE GOT HERE
- EV chargers: California currently has by far the most electric chargers in the nation with over 42,000 public charging ports;
- California leads the country in all zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) market metrics, including the largest EV market share percentage, and the most extensive public charging infrastructure;
- The success of the state’s programs has led to ZEVs becoming a top export and has spurred major advances in manufacturing and job creation;
- Over 25% of new passenger vehicles sold in California through Q3 of 2023 were zero-emission vehicles;
- California has reached its ZEV truck sales goal two years ahead of schedule;
- This latest award comes on the heels of California’s call for projects to support $40 million in charging projects for passenger vehicles in the state’s NEVI program.
- Ten EV charging and hydrogen fueling projects in California, totaling $168 million, were recently awarded funding under the Federal Highway Administration’s Charging and Fueling Infrastructure Discretionary Grant Program.
I have an EV and its great. No problems, cheaper to run, fewer parts to fix. The fossil fuel industry gets far more subsidies from the government than EVs so if thats a scam on the taxpayer let’s stop it. Slightly lower range on cold days but not that much different. New battery technology is coming soon that will fix that.
Same. I’ve been driving EVs for about ten years now. Solar and battery system at my house almost zero maintenance on the vehicles.
Looking at a Mustang Mock E GT and the rebates have changed to only 7500$>
Seems all the programs have dried up.
Buying one anyway.
Yet another scam on the taxpayer, perpetrated by the party in power. Why are EV’s so unpopular? Because people don’t want them! Expensive, low range and as we found out this winter, they suck when the weather is below freezing! How about going back to letting the consumer and marketplace decide. Enough with the Nanny State! Next thing you know they will be trying to dictate how fast a car can travel …oh wait, the lefties (Wiener-D, San Francisco) are trying to introduce that very legislation now!
It’s tough trying to live in the past, isn’t it?
Darn. Must be tough living where the politics are so absolutely, fundamentally opposite of what you believe in. That would drive me nuts too.
EVs will make sense once they have a better replacement for Li batteries.
Right now slave labor is being used to mine the ores and I believe it is unethical to buy an EV
How can you support slavery so you can drive your fancy car?
https://theamericangenius.com/editorials/before-you-buy-an-electric-vehicle-consider-the-slave-labor-used/
Slave labor is being used in lots of what you consume. Lithium batteries are probably all over your house right now. Private armies have been used to murder indigenous peoples to pave the way for oil exploration.
There’s no perfect answer but cobalt is on the way out very quickly. Solid state, sodium based tech on the way, lots of alternatives.
You sound like you’re more about class war than human rights.
Ah, I see. Everyone does it so its OK if you do too.
But you only feel the need to whine about it if it’s non-petroleum.
The article was on EVs, . Perhaps you should read it before making snarky comments behind your anonymous skirt
Perhaps you should realize that petroleum powered vehicles are much worse on just about any metric you can imagine. though that gets ignored in the con rush to bash anything green.
No, you are being presumptuous of my opinion. Li batteries make EV nonviable due to cost, weight, recharge time, fires, and the child slavery issue.
EVs with an as yet new technology power source that is clean, cheap, safe, ethical, light, and quickly rechargeable would be much better than ICE. An electric motor powering the wheels is a much better technology. The current EV push lines the pockets of the lobbyist elites and still produces pollution in various forms throughout its life cycle.
I’m always contemptuous of positions not based on facts.
LOL, nah, I live in the real world, one where we have a range of imperfect choices. I’ve made my choice based on the information available to me and through weighing up the impacts of ICE vs. EV vehicles as well as the driving experience, which I LOVE. Child slavery is present throughout the supply chain, it just gets cloaked. From your clothes to your cheap household items made in India and China–you are swimming in the exploitation of others. How ethically do you think the cobalt used in the computer you are complaining about EVs on was mined? Or in other super alloys that you use? Or in electric motors that you use? Or in gas turbine engines? People like you act as if cobalt was not being mined or used prior to the popularity of EVs. LOL. You are as guilty as anyone.
Your comment about “fancy cars” made it sound like you have a problem with the amount of money that people spend on these cars rather than the real world impacts. I paid about 60k for my current EV ride. Would you be okay if I paid 100k for a mercedes AMG (with rare earth metals included!) Just as long as it’s not electric? Oh yeah, and also you must certainly know that cobalt is used in the refining of crude oil into gasoline, right? Right?
Oh, yeah, you probably also don’t know that, as of 2022, about half of the batteries in Teslas are LFP, which have no cobalt. So, go ahead and pick one up today if cobalt is your primary problem.
Oh, yeah, also, even with cobalt–you know it’s not a consumable, right? It doesn’t just go out a tailpipe as a toxic material. And when the battery reaches the end of its life, guess what, you can recover close to 95% of the cobalt and re-use it. Oh, yeah, and half of all cobalt comes from Australia, which doesn’t employ child slavery. Oh, yeah, and Sweden is looking at starting up cobalt mines because they have massive deposits, and guess what they don’t have–child slavery! The cobalt isn’t so much the issue as the human greed that sources it at the cheapest, most exploitive level, you know, like buying cheap oil from human rights abusers in the Middle East.
Beyond that, I applaud attention being focused on any and all unfair labor practices and I appreciate efforts by people to find new technologies that have less human and environmental impacts.
If you’re not riding a bike or walking then you’re polluting whenever you travel. Oh, and if you’re riding a bike, well, all of the physical components of that bike are related to labor exploitation and pollution.
You say that LI batteries make EVs “nonviable due to cost, weight, recharge time, fires, and the child slavery issue.”
Huh. I’ve been driving full EVs for ten years. I have never had a problem with anything that you cite, other than the sourcing of the materials. And, as I said, if you are using petroleum based products then you’re just as much a part of the child slavery problems as anyone in a Tesla.
But by all means, choose not to buy an EV if that’s your preference.