San Francisco secures $5m in grants for EV charging

City authorities have secured a $5m grant from the California Energy Commission to build new charging infrastructure. This grant is being matched by $2.8m in funding from the city which combined will be used to install 403 new EV charging points.

The new charging points will be installed at publicly owned facilities, and will be capable of powering an additional 800 light-duty EVs – which amounts to 40 per cent of the city’s ‘non-public safety light-duty fleet’. In other words, the new charging infrastructure will be used specifically for municipal fleet vehicles belonging to the city of San Francisco itself.

It is unclear whether any of the charging points will also be usable by members of the public. However, it has been confirmed that the new chargers will be installed at 36 different city-owned facilities and serve a total of 15 city government departments. Currently, only 8 per cent of the city’s non-public safety light duty vehicles are either battery-electric or hydrogen-powered. San Francisco currently aims to reach net-zero and become ‘all electric’ by 2040, so this initiative is part of a wider decarbonisation effort.

City Administrator Carmen Chu explained: “With this grant and our fleet assessment, we now have the knowledge and ability to install over 400 chargers across the city to power city vehicles. We estimate this will meet 40 per cent of charging needs for the city’s common fleet and is a win-win because it’s good for the environment and lowers ongoing operating costs.”

Rafael Mandelman, the SF Board of Supervisors President, added: “For San Francisco to reach its climate goals we need to address auto emissions, and electrifying our city fleet is part of that. In my time on the Board I have worked to expand EV charging infrastructure citywide, and this investment is an important step toward a cleaner, fully electrified municipal fleet.”

sf.gov