It’s Never Been More Affordable for SoCal Property Owners to Install EV Chargers

Nearly 11% of California light-duty auto sales during the first half of 2021 were zero-emission vehicles, contributing to the more than 425,000 registered EVs on the road in the state as of June. The uptick in EVs on the road and the passing of EV-friendly building codes have spurred increasing demand for EV chargers in the state. Luckily, Southern California Edison has established the Charge Ready program to help cover installation costs, but it won’t be around forever. Read ahead to learn how property owners can take advantage of it before time runs out.

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What Is Charge Ready?

Charge Ready makes installing and maintaining EV charging stations on commercial, public-sector, and multi-family properties more feasible by providing equipment rebates, low- or no-cost infrastructure, and technical assistance. The program supports charging for light-duty vehicles such as passenger cars and vans — the types of vehicles that a building’s residents, employees, or customers most commonly use. A wide range of sites stands to benefit from Charge Ready, including apartment complexes, healthcare facilities, offices, and retail stores.

Among the program’s highlights is a “new construction” rebate for multi-family dwellings completed after January 1, 2017. This comes as great news, as the current CALGreen building code mandates that 10% of the parking spaces in such buildings must be EV capable, meaning that the property must accommodate the necessary wiring and power needed to support EV charging. The Charge Ready program ends as soon as funds have been depleted, so property owners are urged to apply as quickly as possible. Applicants can use the Charge Ready online portal to enroll in the program or lean on a registered Trade Pro like PowerFlex to file and manage the application on their behalf.

(Related: Energy Solutions for Property Development.)

Choosing an EV Charger Provider

Enrolling in the Charge Ready program is just the first step. Property owners will also need to choose a provider to handle their EV chargers’ actual installation and maintenance. With over 30 years of overall renewable energy experience, and as a leader in electric vehicle charging specifically, PowerFlex is perfectly suited to design and implement an EV solution for your building. We handle all aspects of EV charging implementation, including hardware and system design, permitting compliance guidance, installation and upkeep, and sustainability reporting. But perhaps the most important service we provide, especially for people looking to keep costs down via the Charge Ready program, is ensuring EV chargers run as efficiently and cost-effectively as possible throughout their lifetime.  

Continued Savings Through Adaptive Load Management

Installation and maintenance aren’t the only costs associated with EV charging stations. Property owners need to pay to power them — and as more drivers charge their vehicles, electricity bills can quickly become expensive. When you choose PowerFlex to install and manage your charging stations, you also reap the financial rewards of our Adaptive Load Management technology. ALM reduces the overall power draw by parceling electricity across your EV chargers based on individual demand, rather than running all chargers at full power all the time. This allows a greater number of chargers to be installed without running up your electricity bill and enables the addition of more EV chargers in the future without having to make electrical system upgrades.

If you’re interested in leveraging Charge Ready to install EV chargers on your property, or if you simply need more information about the benefits of EV charging, feel free to contact us today. We can set up a free consultation to assess your EV options and other renewable energy solutions such as solar and storage that can lower your energy costs while providing sustainability benefits.