Transportation electrification: electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

Existing law creates the Clean Transportation Program, administered by the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission) , to provide, among other things, competitive grants and revolving loans to specified entities for those entities to develop and deploy innovative technologies that transform California's fuel and vehicle types to help attain the state's climate change policies. Existing law requires the Energy Commission to develop and adopt an investment plan to determine priorities and opportunities for the program. Existing law requires the Energy Commission, in consultation with the State Air Resources Board (state board) , as part of the development of the investment plan, to assess whether charging station infrastructure is disproportionately deployed, as specified, and, upon finding disproportionate deployment, to use moneys from the Alternative and Renewable Fuel and Vehicle Technology Fund, as well as other mechanisms, including incentives, to more proportionately deploy new charging station infrastructure, except as specified. Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations, while local publicly owned electric utilities are under the direction of their governing boards. Existing law requires the PUC, in consultation with the Energy Commission and the state board, to direct electrical corporations to file applications for programs and investments to accelerate widespread transportation electrification to, among other things, reduce dependence on petroleum and reduce emissions of greenhouse gases to 40% below 1990 levels by 2030 and to 80% below 1990 levels by 2050. The PUC is required to approve, or modify and approve, programs and investments in transportation electrification, including those that deploy charging infrastructure, through a reasonable cost recovery mechanism, if certain requirements are met. This bill would require the Energy Commission, in consultation with the PUC, to develop uptime recordkeeping and reporting standards for electric vehicle chargers and charging stations by January 1, 2024. The bill would require that the uptime recordkeeping and reporting standards only apply to electric vehicle chargers and charging stations that received an incentive from a state agency or through a charge on ratepayers, apply for a minimum of 6 years, and apply to electric vehicle chargers and charging stations installed on or after January 1, 2024. The bill would authorize the Energy Commission to consider additional reliability metrics, as specified, and require the Energy Commission, in consultation with the PUC, to hold a public workshop to discuss and identify industry best practices and charger technology capabilities that are demonstrated to increase reliability. Beginning January 1, 2025, this bill would require the Energy Commission to assess the uptime of charging station infrastructure, including, at a minimum, an assessment of equitable access to reliable charging stations in low-, moderate-, and high-income communities. The bill would require the Energy Commission to update the assessment every 2 years and would authorize an individual or company supplying information or data to the Energy Commission to request that the information or data be held in confidence, as specified. The Energy Commission, in consultation with the PUC, may adopt tools to increase charging station uptime. This bill would repeal these provisions as of January 1, 2035.