California Approves $437M Funding To Build Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) on Thursday announced a $437 million budget towards achieving its 2030 goal of five million zero-emission vehicles (ZEV) on road.

What Happened: The funding will go to Southern California Edison (SCE), a subsidiary of Edison International EIX, which, according to CPUC, will use it to install 38,000 chargers.
The program particularly "prioritizes multi-unit dwellings and disadvantaged communities because they face barriers to transportation electrification," CPUC claimed.

SCE kicked off the Charge Ready program, the largest single-utility electric vehicle charging program in the country, back in 2016.  

The initial proposal for the Charge Ready program was pegged at $760 million. The final proposal that has beeen approved comes at a reduce ratepayer costs of 40%, with only a 20% reduction in charging ports, as per CPUC.

Why It Matters: Electric vehicle sales have surged in the United States, with market leader Tesla Inc.'s TSLA stock up over 435% year-till-date.

Nevertheless, EV sales made up for only about 2% of the total automobile sales in the U.S. last year, according to the U.S. Department of Energy data.

Charging infrastructure is deemed crucial for widespread EV adoption. In July, New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo announced a $750 million EV infrastructure investment. The state of Florida, in the same month, said it planned to invest $8.6 million to build EV charging stations.

Price Movement:

Edison shares closed about 1.3% higher at $51.75 at the time of the market close on Thursday.