San Diego Gas & Electric To Install 3,500 EV Chargers

San Diego Gas & Electric, in a plan approved by the California Public Utilities Commission, will install EV chargers at 350 locations throughout San Diego and Orange counties. Each location will have 10 charging stations. Some might dismiss this news, since it involves only Level 2 chargers. Where are the DC fast chargers America needs to make the electric car revolution finally gain critical mass?

The big news here is not that a whole bunch of new chargers are coming to Sandy Eggo and environs. The big news is where those chargers will be located. 50% of SDG&E’s customers live in multi-family communities — places where charging stations have seldom been available before. Until now, the ability to plug in overnight has been available mostly to owners of single family homes.

Putting chargers in the condo developments that dominate the southern California housing market is a giant step forward.  Without access to vehicle charging, there is virtually no way people living in condos can become part of  the green car revolution. SDG&E’s initiative will help address gaps like this in the market and ensure charging is accessible to all customers. 10% of the new chargers will be installed in disadvantaged neighborhoods. That will help lower income families to save money on gasoline and drive cleaner cars as well

The plan has another important feature. The rate structure for the new chargers will encourage EV drivers to charge their cars when electricity is plentiful and energy prices are low. With rates encouraging off-peak charging, vehicles will be efficiently integrated onto the grid, helping to avoid on-peak charging that drives the need to build more power plants and other electric infrastructure. The SDG&E’s electric grid is already one of the greenest in the nation. It gets a third of its electricity from renewable sources and has no coal powered plants in its system.

SDG&E is a strong proponent of electric vehicles. Last year, it launched the “Race to 500,” an innovative clean transportation program whose goal is to have 500 employees driving EVs as their primary form of transportation. To date, 200 employees have purchased or leased an EV. SDG&E has installed more than 158 electric charging stations at company facilities — the most of any location in San Diego. SDG&E also is adding 163 more plug-in EVs to its fleet as part of a five-year purchase plan.

Many utility companies welcome renewable energy and electric cars the way they would the swine flu. It’s refreshing to find one that is truly committed to the future of energy, rather than the past.