California Utility Goes Green With Plans For 25,000 Charging Stations

(RTTNews) - Utility PG&E Corp. is seeking approval from California regulators to build 25,000 electric vehicle charging stations in a bid to meet green energy targets.

The project would span the northern and central parts of California, and would be the nation's largest deployment of charging stations.

It is reported that the cost of the project, estimated at about $654 million, would be passed on to the utility's customers; adding about 70 cents to the monthly bill of a residential customer starting 2018.

The project is in keeping with Gov. Jerry Brown's target of having 1.5 million zero-emission vehicles on California roads by 2025.

California has more than 100,000 electric cars - the highest for any state in the country - and 60 percent of those cars are in PG&E's territory. Last September, Gov. Brown signed a bill that would hand out more subsidies to people who buy electric cars.

It is reported that PG&E would own all of the chargers, but would bring in other companies to install and manage them.

The utility plans to install 25,000 Level 2 chargers — which can add up to 25 miles of driving range for every hour of charging. Electric car drivers would have to pay those companies to use the chargers, which would be deployed at offices, multifamily buildings, shopping centers and other public locations.