Help Us Make EV Charging Accessible to All
by Linda Hutchins-Knowles
Marek Piwnicki on Unsplash
With smoky skies and apocalyptic headlines bombarding us daily about our worsening climate crisis, you might be wondering, what is something meaningful I can do to help?
This month, one easy action you can take to have a major impact is to join the chorus of voices advocating for EV Charging Access for All in the next California building code.
A Revolution in Need of Infrastructure
Given that the largest single source of greenhouse gas emissions in California is the transportation sector, a just and rapid transition from gas-powered vehicles to electric vehicles (EVs) and public transit is essential for a stable climate.
To help spur this transition, Governor Newsom has declared, via a ground-breaking executive order, that every new car sold in California as of 2035 must be electric or zero-emission. But for this to be practical, California drivers will need access to convenient, affordable charging—which for most drivers means they will need the ability to plug in at home.
For Californians who live in new, single-family homes, that will be easy: since 2015 the state’s “CALGreen” building code has required all new single-family homes to be wired for EV charging during construction. However, approximately one third of Californians live in multi-family buildings, and the code currently requires only 10% of parking in new multi-family units to be wired for charging.
This inequity excludes a significant portion of the state’s population (predominantly people of color and low-income residents) from convenient and inexpensive charging access, since the most cost-effective way to charge is almost always at home (public charging costs are unregulated, and often much higher — sometimes even more than gas). And unless they have access to convenient and affordable overnight charging options, few residents will be able to choose to drive EVs.
Image courtesy of Peninsula clean energy
Building a Coalition for EV Equity
To address this deficit, a dedicated group of electric vehicle advocates formed the EV Charging Access for All Coalition, which now includes over 1200 organizations, companies, faith communities, elected officials, and individuals. This coalition—led by Bay Area climate solutions experts Vanessa Warheit and Sven Thesen and supported by Acterra—has been advocating to ensure that every new California multi-family housing unit with parking has access to some level of residential EV-ready charging.
Our primary target is the 2022 update to the CALGreen building codes. Under consideration right now, these codes will lay out the requirements for EV charging for all new California buildings permitted from 2023-2025.
As a result of our advocacy, an early draft of the 2022 code update has been modestly strengthened, but the current draft will only ensure that 40% of new multi-family units will be EV-capable. This is woefully inadequate, leaving over half of the residents of new apartments and condos without EV charging access at home, versus 100% of new single-family houses.
Instead, we are advocating for an alternate proposal, dubbed Low-Power Level 2 (LPL2). This approach prioritizes low-power EV-ready parking spots for all units rather than higher-power or EV-capable spots for just a few. Even though the Code Advisory Committee recommended our proposal, California’s Department of Housing and Community Development and Building Standards Commission (likely under pressure from corporate building developers) declined to include it in the draft they presented in August for public comment.
Who will they listen to: the people or the developers?
That’s where YOU come in!
On September 27 the public comment period will expire on the proposed new CALGreen code. We have a good chance of strengthening the code IF we can show widespread public support from residents and organizations across California.
If you agree that all apartment and condo residents deserve EV charging access at home, here are two easy ways you can help:
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As an individual, send this comment via email to the CA Building Standards Commission by September 27 (sooner is better than later). Be sure to CC us at evchargingaccess@gmail.com so we can see how many emails have been sent.
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Encourage your organization to sign onto our group letter to the CA Building Standards Commission by September 23.
If you’re on social media, you can also spread the word using this toolkit.
You can take action today. If the draft CALGreen code isn’t strengthened, the majority of new apartment and condo residents will continue to lack access to the financial and health benefits of driving electric vehicles with affordable, at-home charging—and California will fall short of its climate goals.
By speaking up in large numbers, we can ensure that California seizes the opportunity to demonstrate our commitment to equity and to bold climate action by guaranteeing access to charging for every new multi-family unit constructed in the Golden State.
The world is watching what we do in California.
Linda Hutchins-Knowles is Acterra’s Karl Knapp GoEV Senior Manager. Along with colleagues and volunteers, she works to accelerate an equitable transition from dirty forms of transportation to clean electric vehicles and public transit. The Karl Knapp GoEV program provides educational workshops, financial incentives clinics, consultations, and resources in English and Spanish for potential EV drivers while advocating for policies to ensure EV charging access for all.