According to Southern California Edison (SCE), there are 3,000 passenger-car electric chargers currently in SoCal. This number will not, by any chance, support the current registered electric cars (EV). Experts say that if we really want to go all out with this plan, the focus should not only be on producing EV units but, equally so, the construction of charging stations across the state. The last thing we want to see is for EV drivers to switch back to gas-powered vehicles. The SCE is looking to incentivize its consumers such as public schools, city halls, and apartment complexes, among others.
A $436M project is set to unfold and build $40,000 chargers within 4 years. This will cover the needs of EV drivers from Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties. There will be an additional 38,000 charging ports in Southern Cal after this project. Carbon emission caused by transportation will surely be reduced when this materializes. However, the state’s goal to reach “carbon neutrality” by 2045 is still far from happening. This goal demands 26 million EV cars on the road but at present, there are only 280, 000 EV cars in the SCE territory.
The chicken-and-the-egg problem of the EV industry is still here and will remain until there are not enough charging stations in the state. In a recent article featured in the Daily News, they write “The budget, approved by the California Public Utilities Commission, is enough to add about 38,000 new charging ports in the SCE service area in four years.”