LONG BEACH–WILMINGTON, Calif., May 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Electrify America today announced its plan to invest $200 million in California Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) infrastructure and education programs over the next 30 months. This represents the third of four investment phases as part of its 10-year commitment of $800 million in the state.
Additionally, the company will direct $25 million of the $200 million investment for an initiative in the City of Long Beach and the Wilmington neighborhood of Los Angeles (Long Beach–Wilmington), for a “Green City” program. This initiative will have a specific focus on charging station investments for electric transit buses and medium / heavy-duty trucks located in or serving the community.
Following the success and key learnings of building EV infrastructure from its previous $400 million investment in California over the last five years, Electrify America will focus the $200 million across three main categories: Infrastructure; Public Education, Awareness, Access & Marketing; and Green Cities. Additionally, Electrify America will strive to ensure that 35 percent of the investment is in low-income and disadvantaged communities, as guided by California Air Resources Board (CARB).
The California ZEV Investment Plan provides ultra-fast charging in more metro areas, as well as strengthens highway and regional charge routes while providing charging infrastructure and solutions for medium and heavy-duty fleets. Approximately 90 percent of Californians now live within 15 miles of an Electrify America ultra-fast charger, with 96 percent living within 25 miles. Electrify America’s continued investment in the state will only strengthen these statistics through wider accessibility to charging options in the years to come.
In addition to infrastructure, the investment will continue broad brand-neutral ZEV education and awareness efforts, and development of the second Green City program in the Long Beach–Wilmington community. Electrify America would begin implementation upon approval by CARB, and continue these investments through June 30, 2024.
“This is the next exciting phase of our mission to increase EV infrastructure and awareness in California as the state works towards its commitment to help make 100 percent of new passenger vehicles zero-emission by 2035,” said Giovanni Palazzo, president and chief executive officer of Electrify America. “This added investment will provide equitable access to expanded EV infrastructure, technology and services for communities across California, further supporting an electric mobility revolution across all regions of the state.”
Green City Investment – $25 Million in Long Beach–Wilmington
One key part of the California plan is the $25 million investment in a Green City program in the Long Beach–Wilmington community, home to the nation’s busiest port complex and served by a fleet of more than 18,000 drayage trucks.
Building on Electrify America’s first successful Green City program in Sacramento, the company will work with Long Beach and Los Angeles city officials and fleet operators to implement projects focused on charging transit and heavy-duty electric vehicles, showcasing ultra-fast charging technology, energy storage and renewables and energy management for these two emerging use cases. Efforts will focus on tackling medium and heavy-duty emissions in a predominantly disadvantaged and low-income community, which is classified as an extreme non-attainment area under the Clean Air Act (sixty-four percent of Long Beach/Wilmington community is classified as low-income and disadvantaged by the California Air Resources Board.)
Electrify America conducted a detailed and quantitative evaluation to determine where to focus Green City investments that would meet the greatest needs and most positively impact the host community. Insights from this analysis revealed that CARB’s zero emission truck mandate, approved in June 2020, and CARB’s Innovative Clean Transit Regulation, adopted in 2018, have spurred a significant, and serious new effort by fleet operators to electrify fleets. Working with that framework, Electrify America recognized the strong need for transit and heavy-duty truck charging solutions as part of this investment.
“Long Beach is proud to do our part in moving our country’s transportation economy in a more sustainable, and environmentally focused direction,” said Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia. “It’s a great honor to be selected as an Electrify America Green City. This investment will go a long way in supporting our efforts to improve air quality in our highly impacted communities, and to support further upgrades to our fleets with more all-electric vehicles.”
“The clean transportation revolution is not a distant dream for a far-off future — it’s a reality happening on our streets and at our ports right now,” said Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti. “Our communities on the front lines of skyrocketing temperatures and rising emissions are our top priority when it comes to climate action, and this funding will bring cleaner air to these neighborhoods and speed up our transition to zero-emissions technology.”
Electrify America will work within the greater Los Angeles region to identify additional opportunities to enhance charging infrastructure and technology, specifically for business fleets and larger scale operational efforts, a key growth area for the industry and a major contributor to emissions. Additionally, Electrify America will focus resources on regional shipping as an opportunity to help encourage the electrification of equipment and vehicles to reduce emissions. The Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are breaking cargo records for the last seven months, with shipping volumes up 46 and 43 percent respectively, year-over-year.
“Supporting charging infrastructure and innovative technology for large battery-powered trucks, business fleets and cargo shipping is the next frontier in truly advancing electric transportation,” said Palazzo of Electrify America. “Investing in the Los Angeles area will set the stage for a future of e-mobility that will reduce emissions and improve the quality of life for local workers and residents.”
Highlights of California’s Third ZEV Investment Plan
The central focus of electric vehicle charging infrastructure investment will focus on building strategically-placed charging stations in many of Electrify America’s existing metro areas, where electric vehicle (EV) drivers are expected to charge most often. DC Fast Charging stations will be placed in retail locations, but will also consider the needs of adjacent multi-unit dwellings, where Level 2 (L2) residential charging deployment is oftentimes challenging. In addition to existing metro investments, Electrify America will invest in five new metro areas:
- New metro area investments:
- Bakersfield
- Oxnard–Thousand Oaks–Ventura
- Santa Maria–Santa Barbara
- Stockton
- Visalia
- Expansion of existing metro area investments:
- Fresno
- Los Angeles-Long Beach–Anaheim
- Riverside–San Bernardino–Ontario
- San Diego–Carlsbad
- San Francisco–Oakland–Hayward
- San Jose–Sunnyvale–Santa Clara
Another major focus of metro-oriented charging station investment will be in supporting electrification transitions for shared mobility drivers – car share, taxis and transportation networking company (TNC) drivers, where many times charging solutions are not readily available. Electrify America will also invest approximately $2 million in incentives to lower the cost for these drivers and to incentivize access, purchase and deployment of electric taxis and TNC vehicles.
This new focus for the company, and the state, has the opportunity to significantly reduce emissions and support drivers. Emissions savings from electrifying a TNC vehicle are nearly three-times as high as electrifying an average vehicle in California, and TNC and taxi drivers are often in low-income brackets, so transitioning to an EV can unlock lower cost for some shared mobility drivers, resulting in more take-home pay. Electrifying TNCs also provides an education opportunity for passengers, as they get to experience riding in a ZEV and frequently end up hearing about the benefits of driving a ZEV from the driver.
Additional Investment Plan focus areas include:
- Highways & Regional Routes: The new investment will expand highway network DC Fast Charging stations, featuring charging power up to 350 kilowatts for capable vehicles, adding density along major routes and investing in regionally significant routes to new destinations including Joshua Tree National Park.
- Transit and Medium-Duty/Heavy-Duty Fleet Charging: Both the transit and medium/heavy-duty sectors are poised for significant growth over the coming decade. Electrify America is investing in infrastructure to support these emerging, but transformational, technologies.
- Hardware Development and Capacity Building: Electrify America plans to invest in new tools and techniques, such as site-level energy management and energy modeling, to drive down both capital and operating costs, and ensure a fast, reliable, and customer-centric experience at all of our stations.
- Rural Investments: As part of the plan, the company will build off its more than $81 million investment to date in rural parts of the state, including the Central Valley, where Electrify America has built more stations to date than any other charging provider.
- Renewable Generation: Consistent with California’s broader air quality goals, Electrify America will invest in renewable generation for select stations as site-level energy management tools to help to reduce station operating costs and reduce the carbon consumption for EV recharging.
- Brand Neutral Education and Awareness: Electrify America plans to drive increased ZEV education and awareness through educational marketing, ride and drives and other experiential marketing, bringing messaging directly to consumers through social media and other marketing channels.
- Sponsoring and Supporting ZEV Education and Training Efforts of Others: Electrify America will continue investing to collaborate with local organizations working specifically within California’s low-income and disadvantaged communities to increase ZEV adoption, building on the more than $6 million of support for local organizations to date. Electrify America will also continue to sponsor the effective brand-neutral education, awareness, and workforce training efforts of other organizations, continuing our past support for the great work of organizations such as Veloz, EV Noire, Plug In America and the LA Cleantech Incubator.
This California ZEV Investment Plan benefited from collaboration with the California Air Resources Board and Staff and a comprehensive national outreach period, during which Electrify America evaluated more than 14 California communities and more than 160 submissions offering input on potential ZEV initiatives. The company held virtual community meetings across California focused on local government and community-based organizations, and engaged with California’s leading academics to ensure an effective, equitable and efficient plan to significantly increase broad electric vehicle adoption in the state.
Electrify America’s 2020 annual reports to the California Air Resources Board and the Environmental Protection Agency can be viewed at https://media.electrifyamerica.com/en-us/releases/138.
About Electrify America
Electrify America LLC, the largest open DC fast charging network in the U.S., is investing $2 billion over 10 years in Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) infrastructure, education and access. The investment will enable millions of Americans to discover the benefits of electric driving and support the build-out of a nationwide network of workplace, community and highway chargers that are convenient and reliable. Electrify America expects to install or have under development approximately 800 total charging stations with about 3,500 DC fast chargers by December 2021. During this period, the company will be expanding to 29 metros and 45 states, including two cross-country routes, delivering on its commitment to support increased ZEV adoption with a network that is comprehensive, technologically advanced and customer friendly. Electrify America earned the “2020 EV Charging Infrastructure Best-in-Test” award from umlaut, an independent testing & validation company, as published in Charged Electric Vehicles Magazine noting the brand’s accessibility and seamless customer experience. Electrify America’s Electrify Home® offers home charging solutions for consumers with flexible installation options. Electrify Commercial® provides expert solutions for businesses looking to develop electric vehicle charging programs. For more information, visit www.electrifyamerica.com and media.electrifyamerica.com.
SOURCE Electrify America, LLC
