California Will Need to Build Electric Vehicle Chargers at Seven Times the Pace to Attain Emission Goals

California has been spearheading the transition to electric vehicles–but some have growing concerns that the infrastructure to support such a change is not able to keep up pace.

Insurance Journal reports that a million public chargers will be needed in California by the end of 2030 to keep up with the state’s goal of 68% of all new vehicles being zero emission by 2030–nearly ten times more than what is currently available.

Unfortunately, current output of public chargers in California is not matching this same pace. 129,000 stations will need to be built every year to accommodate the growth of EVs, which is over seven times what is currently being built.

Alongside billions of dollars in investments, city and county permitting processes will need to be done more efficiently, and massive improvements will need to be made to California’s power grid.

Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel, a Democrat from Encino who last year attempted to pass bills aimed at expanding charging access, has described California as being far from where it needs to be.

“We’re going to look really silly if we are telling people that they can only buy electric vehicles, and we don’t have the charging infrastructure to support that,” said Gabriel.

He’s affirmed by Bruce Cain, a Stanford professor who helped write a policy briefing over issues affecting EV charging in the state.

“This is a wakeup call that we address potential institutional and policy obstacles more seriously before we commit blindly,” Cain stated.