A Small Win for Curbside EV Charging in California

AB 2427 marks progress for a key charging segment

Late last month, Governor Newsom signed Assembly Bill 2427, which represents a modest step in the effort to ensure all Californians have access to convenient electric vehicle (EV) charging, not just those who own their homes and have garages, by supporting efforts to invest in curbside EV charging.

As CLEE described in a report issued earlier this year, curbside charging will be a key tool for residents of dense urban centers, multifamily buildings, and homes that lack parking as the state pursues its ambitious vehicle electrification goals. Cities from Los Angeles to Portland to New York have piloted the strategy, and more like San Francisco are beginning to explore it. Curbside charging will be crucial for drivers–predominantly apartment-dwellers and lower-income renters–who lack access to private charging, but it also raises complex permitting, infrastructure, and accessibility questions that make it more challenging to install than off-street charging.

AB 2427 will help advance curbside efforts in California in two ways:

• The law requires the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz) to develop model permitting checklists, model zoning ordinances, and best practices for local governments to facilitate curbside charging.
• The law requires local governments to develop comprehensive installation checklists and identify all applicable fees (which can be numerous) and location-selection criteria for potential developers of curbside charging.

These two modest measures build on California’s existing charging permit streamlining program under AB 1236 and AB 970, which sets clear and swift deadlines for local agencies to approve charging permits but has proven challenging in the complex curbside context. The new AB 2427 requirements should help cities and developers address issues like transit and bike lane conflicts, utility interconnection delays, and parking regulations.

What the bill does not directly accomplish, however, is to help local governments to identify in advance those corners, corridors, and neighborhoods where curbside charging will be a vital mobility resource and an appropriate use of the public right-of-way. Curbside and public charging will be essential in many areas to ensure equitable charging access; they will also be low-utility in some residential communities where all drivers can charge off-street, and must be designed to prioritize public transit and active transportation options where they exist. Early versions of AB 2427 included a California Energy Commission assessment of statewide curbside charging needs, but this did not make it into the final bill.

In the coming year, CLEE’s EV Equity Initiative will aim to develop tools that assist local governments with this analysis, to ensure that curbside charging investments are not just feasible but also high-value and equitable for the communities that host them. By focusing state and local attention on this issue, AB 2427 is a valuable step in the right direction.

charging infrastructure, ev equity, local planning