California has announced that it's time to cut some checks for 270 EV chargers at 26 stations along the state's highways.
In a recent press release from California’s Office of Governor, the state announced that it’s time to cut some checks for 270 EV chargers at 26 stations along the state’s highways. This year’s budget for this is just over $40 million, and over the next five program years the state is going to cut checks for as much as $380 million. All of this comes from the federal NEVI program.
The program did come with some federal rules, though. Basically, the states have to put stations along each of the designated “alternative fuel corridors,” which by definition can only be part of the. This can be a little confusing, because while all interstate highways are part of the NHS, not all US highways are, and some state and even local highways of strategic importance to the country can be included.
Regardless of which year the highway gets funding, there are some rules for the construction of the stations. First, they have to be every 50 miles or less . Second, they have to have at least four stalls with CCS plugs. NACS plugs were not an open standard when the law was passed, but many states are requiring contractors to include NACS plugs. Also, there must be enough power available for each of these four stations to provide 150 kW of speed simultaneously .
At this point, contractors are supposed to read through the instructions and information, come up with prices for each required element, and then send the packet in to CalTrans for consideration. Final locations where the stations will go will depend on which bids win, so the state can’t tell us exactly what’s going to happen right now.First off, the announcement’s talking about 270 chargers at 26 locations.