364
submitted 1 month ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

Summary

Starting in 2026, California will require all new residential units with parking spaces to be EV charger-ready, significantly increasing access to electric vehicle charging.

Multi-family developments must equip at least one EV-ready spot per unit, while hotels, commercial lots, and parking renovations will also face new EV charging mandates.

Advocacy groups praise the policy, emphasizing its balanced approach to affordability and infrastructure needs.

The initiative aligns with California’s 2035 ban on new gas-powered car sales, aiming to address key barriers to EV adoption and support the state’s transition to electrification.

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[-] SirEDCaLot@lemmy.today 57 points 1 month ago

This is fantastic. It's not super expensive either. Just an extra 240 volt 50 amp cable with a 14-50 outlet. If done at the build stage it's a few hundred bucks.

[-] AA5B@lemmy.world 26 points 1 month ago

It’s even cheaper than that. The minimum according to the article is 240v/20a. That smaller than a dryer outlet. You could literally use standard 12 gauge wire to it, just like you would to a dishwasher

[-] SirEDCaLot@lemmy.today 3 points 1 month ago

That's actually kind of sad. They should have mandated 50 amps

[-] phoneymouse@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

Now if only PGE would stop charging 60 cents / KwH

[-] MyOpinion@lemm.ee 22 points 1 month ago

Great to see this. In 10 years ice cars will not be sold so this needs to happen now.

[-] Ghostalmedia@lemmy.world 20 points 1 month ago

Now if only we could build way more new residential units in CA.

[-] Zonetrooper@lemmy.world 18 points 1 month ago

I was going to say. I'm sure this will be great... for all 25 new homes built in CA that year!

[-] spacesatan@leminal.space 10 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Frankly incredible that the NEC isn't requiring this in all new editions yet. Absurdly short sighted. Like, it's just 1 circuit to a garage if a garage is present. All the yokel states can refuse to adopt that section if they want, whatever.

[-] Brkdncr@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

Run two, for a future battery.

[-] EtherWhack@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

An ESS is a bit of a different animal though. They are generally wired directly to the meter's output, before any circuits and may even come with their panel that would then control all the circuits in the house.

[-] Brkdncr@lemmy.world 0 points 1 month ago

So run the wiring. It will cost nearly nothing to do that while also pre-wiring for EV charging vs doing it later for $$.

[-] Brkdncr@lemmy.world 8 points 1 month ago

This is great. Now do battery storage.

[-] osaerisxero@kbin.melroy.org 6 points 1 month ago

That would be hella expensive

[-] Brkdncr@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago

Not to be battery-ready. I’m not suggesting batteries get installed.

[-] mosiacmango@lemm.ee 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Most modular home battery banks can take EV chargers as an input. I know Ecoflow can, and I expect Anker solix can too. These circuits could charge battery banks instead, which the cars could plug into.

Sounds like they are getting battery storage ready.

[-] Brkdncr@lemmy.world 0 points 1 month ago

It doesn’t cost much to run another conduit and breaker to support a battery that the electric company will allow you to discharge to the grid for $$.

I’d rather add the support for it.

[-] osaerisxero@kbin.melroy.org 2 points 1 month ago

At the scale of the electrical inputs for medium-large scale apartment buildings, the cost to be battery-ready isn't measured in dollars but in cubic feet you're reserving for the purpose. The breakers and line (and sometimes full transformer banks) already have to exist to distribute grid to the sometimes hundreds of units of apartment, so converting a standard demarc to one which would support a battery array wouldn't be more than installing the shunts and electronic controls. 1 afternoon for a 2-3 man team and maybe a bucket truck if you're feeling fancy.

The problem is that every square foot of floorspace is planned for in these complexes, and there's a zero percent chance that any builder is going to allocate the raw square/cubic feet to grid storage without the grid operator or city paying cash for it, and maybe not even then.

Now, if you want to try to legislate that all parking must be built on top of batteries or something, that might be workable, but I would consider putting it in the buildings themselves to be untenable.

[-] Brkdncr@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

A lot of parking is in a garage. If each garage space already supports EV charging, it’s not a lot more to support a battery too. Paired with the right tech you can limit the amount of current feeding all these things.

Batteries take up about 5’x4’x8”. The biggest obstacle is routing individually metered power to garage space.

Keep in mind that natural gas piping may not be needed, freeing up a decent amount of space, cost, and complexity.

[-] nBodyProblem@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago

Unfortunately every apartment I have lived in with charging adds a massive markup to the electricity coming out of the chargers. At one place we were paying $150/month for a space with an EV charger and the electricity coming from the charger was still billed at around 10x the base rate. It was far cheaper to fill our plugin hybrid with gas than to use the charger in our parking space.

I’m sure the same will apply here. It doesn’t help anyone if the complex is allowed to gouge the tenants on the electricity usage.

[-] PlantJam@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago

In theory chargers being more readily available will help with this. If they mark up the electricity 10x and all the tenants just charge at work instead, there's a motive to make the price more competitive. In practice we might just end up with more AI price fixing and consumers with no recourse.

[-] nBodyProblem@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago

Ironically, the chargers at my office ALSO charge a big markup.

Competition is good, but landlords at offices and apartment buildings have a somewhat captive customer base who will often pay exorbitant prices for convenience.

[-] dandylover1@friendica.world 1 points 1 month ago

@MicroWave Granted, I live in New Jersey, so this doesn't affect me. But what about for those of us who don't drive? I, for example, am totally blind. Why should those of us without cars have to pay for renovations that we don't need? What about people who don't own or want these cars, and who don't have any friends who do? It says for new residential buildings, but then, it talks about multi-family ones, so I'm assuming that existing homes would require them as well.

[-] SkunkWorkz@lemmy.world 0 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Don’t they need to make it mandatory to increase capacity first? Most average residential streets probably dont have enough power to charge an EV on every address simultaneously.

[-] enbyecho@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Most average residential streets probably dont have enough power to charge an EV on every address simultaneously.

[citation needed]

I'm not saying you are wrong, but this sounds very much like a statement made definitively because it sounds like it might be true but has no particular basis in fact. I'd like to know if you have those facts.

[-] dogslayeggs@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago

This is completely untrue. While there might be some streets unable to do this, it is definitely not most.

A) This requires 20A charging, which is lower power draw than a normal electric dryer. Are you super concerned about houses having dryers? What about air conditioners? They pull literally 3 times the power. How can we possibly install air conditioners in every house?!?!

B) The vast majority of these will be used late at night, when most electric draw is at a minimum (like air conditioners and dryers).

this post was submitted on 18 Dec 2024
364 points (98.9% liked)

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