California adds $23m to EV incentives

Since 5 April, businesses, non-profits and public entities in California can apply for a new incentive that aims to install around 5,000 electric-vehicle (EV) chargers across the Golden State. The total amount of incentives amounts to $23 million. 

The incentives, offered under the California Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Project (CALeVIP), aims to enhance California's charging infrastructure. The project's overall goal is to eliminate combustion engine passenger cars by 2035. 

The incentives will cover up to 75% of the cost for the standard installation of a Level-2 EV charging connector, which is the most commonly used hardware for EV charging at businesses, homes and public areas in the United States. 

The incentive offers an additional $500 per connector for low-income communities and $2,000 to install connectors at multi-unit residences. In total, the incentive can go up to $6,000, according to Santa Monica Daily Press. 

5 million EVs by 2030

The incentives are especially targeting just four Californian counties, which together are home to 18 million people - almost half the state's entire population. In each county, more than 60% of the total funding in each county will be allocated to low-income and disadvantaged communities, says the California Center for Sustainable Energy (CSE). If the installations cover shared parking spaces, private parking facilities can also apply for the incentive.

CALeVIP is funded by the Clean Transportation Program of the California Energy Commission, which will invest $1.4 billion over the next three years to ramp up zero-emission efforts in California by expanding the EV infrastructure and gradually phasing out fossil-fueled passenger cars until 2035. 

Since 2017, CALeVIP has provided more than $193 million in 12 different regional projects to put 5 million EVs on California roads by 2030 while also installing 250,000 charging stations. 

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