Plug-In Electric Vehicles
California has more than 200,000 plug-in electric vehicles (EVs) on its roads, and PG&E is committed to making ownership easy and affordable. With one in five of the nation’s EVs plugging in to PG&E’s energy grid, we are helping customers and communities understand the benefits of driving electric while working to enable the large-scale electric infrastructure needed to meet demand for EVs and California’s clean air and greenhouse gas emission reduction goals.
Our Approach
PG&E is working proactively to make California a leader in EV adoption by educating customers about the benefits of the vehicles, offering electric rate plans tailored for EV use and upgrading our electric infrastructure to accommodate their widespread use.
Examples of our work include:
- Our proposal before the CPUC to deploy EV charging stations throughout our Northern and Central California service area.
- Piloting cutting-edge programs to promote the adoption of EV charging rate plans, including our work with BMW on demand-response smart-charging for EV owners to delay charging when energy demand peaks.
- Active community outreach through participation in events, including Charge Across Town’s EV Week, Drive the Dream and the San Francisco International Auto Show.
PG&E’s EV rate makes the cost of charging equivalent to about $1 a gallon.
We are also participating in California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) program, which aims to lower the carbon intensity of California’s transportation fuels by 10 percent by 2020. Through this program, PG&E generates emissions credits when customers charge their EVs or purchase compressed natural gas (CNG) for their vehicles, since both electricity and CNG are cleaner transportation fuels than gasoline or diesel. Under regulatory oversight, PG&E sells these credits to LCFS-regulated parties and then returns the revenue from these credit sales to our EV and CNG customers in the form of rebates.
2015 Milestones
Providing employee incentives
PG&E encouraged employees to make the switch to EVs through a dedicated program. Working in partnership with Ford and General Motors, the program helped more than 700 employees purchase EVs, many of which are charged at PG&E facilities via our workplace charging program.
Connecting with customers
PG&E participated in the San Francisco International Auto Show, displaying locally made plug-in hybrid PG&E fleet vehicles and sponsoring EV test drives.
Highlights of our work to transition customers to EVs include:
- Proposed to expand charging infrastructure. PG&E proposed a new program with the CPUC to deploy EV charging infrastructure in our service area. Phase 1 of this program, if approved by the CPUC, would allow PG&E to deploy 7,500 Level 2 charging stations at commercial and public locations, including multifamily dwellings and workplaces, with 15 percent in disadvantaged communities. The program will also support statewide EV travel by installing 100 DC fast chargers.
- Participated in more than 10 events across our service area to educate customers about the benefits of EVs. This included Drive the Dream 2015, which brought together business leaders, including PG&E Corporation’s Chairman and CEO, with California’s Governor to showcase the latest EVs and commitments from California businesses to grow EV adoption within their fleets and employees.
- Piloted new technologies for submetering EV charging. Launched in 2014, the pilot allows residential and commercial customers to install a third-party submeter to measure their EV charging usage, so that customers can have their EV charges billed at a different rate than their home or business usage. In 2015, more than 100 customers participated.
Measuring Progress
The number of EVs in PG&E’s service area continued to increase in 2015, with battery and plug-in hybrid EV ownership reaching 78,490 vehicles. PG&E expects that by 2020, our customers will own and operate approximately 226,000 plug-in vehicles.
| 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Approximate Number of EVs | 3,224 | 11,565 | 30,348 | 57,772 | 78,490 |
- 1. Electric Power Research Institute, R.L. Polk Data, 2015. Return to table
Looking Ahead
With EV ownership accelerating across California, PG&E remains focused on designing programs that meet customer needs and promote EV adoption.
Our EV charging infrastructure and education program, if approved by the CPUC, would represent a significant increase in deployment of EV charging stations and help meet state clean air and greenhouse gas emission reduction goals. By supporting market acceptance of EVs, the program would create new opportunities for other infrastructure and technology companies, help keep California at the forefront of EV innovation and create new jobs in local communities. Pending regulatory approval, PG&E looks to begin deployments in 2017.