Electrify America Details Next $200 Million EV Investment Plan

• Next 30-month investment round by Electrify America will include Green City projects for Long Beach-Wilmington in California.

• The station builder will focus on EV infrastructure for trucks and buses in the Los Angeles area.

• The next 30-month investment plan will include EV infrastructure in several new metro areas, currently underserved by EV stations.

Electrify America plans to invest $200 million in California's zero-emission infrastructure and education over the next 30 months, part of its third investment phase into such efforts in the state. The effort is a part of a larger, $800-million investment in the state over the course of 10 years, which began in 2016.

As a part of this next phase, Electrify America plans to build charging stations in a number of the metro areas the company already serves but where EV owners are expected to recharge their vehicles most frequently. This means that new DC stations will be placed near multi-unit buildings where Level 2 charging is frequently difficult, and also near retail locations. Electrify America plans to expand its station count in existing metro area including San Diego-Carlsbad, Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara and Fresno. The company also plans to invest in metro areas new to it, including Stockton, Visalia, Bakersfield, Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura and Santa Maria-Santa Barbara.

"This is the next exciting phase of our mission to increase EV infrastructure and awareness in California as the state works towards its commitment to help make 100 percent of new passenger vehicles zero-emission by 2035," said Giovanni Palazzo, president and chief executive officer of Electrify America. "This added investment will provide equitable access to expanded EV infrastructure, technology and services for communities across California, further supporting an electric mobility revolution across all regions of the state."

Electrify America also plans to look within the greater Los Angeles region to find additional places where EV chargers for business fleets could be useful, including regional truck fleets that serve the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. The aim is to help encourage electrification of vehicles and equipment in the ports.

A part of this $200 million investment phase also includes a focus on so-called Green Cities, with Electrify America planning to work with Long Beach and Los Angeles city officials and fleet operators on projects to charge current and future heavy-duty vehicles and city transit vehicles, preparing for a future where city buses are electric. Through these efforts, the company will focus on reducing emissions in predominantly disadvantaged and low-income communities, such as Long Beach, as classified by the California Air Resources Board (CARB).

One component of the overall California initiative is a $25 million investment is a Green City program aimed at Long Beach-Wilmington, which has a fleet of more than 18,000 drayage trucks that could at one point become EVs.

"Long Beach is proud to do our part in moving our country’s transportation economy in a more sustainable, and environmentally focused direction," said Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia. "It’s a great honor to be selected as an Electrify America Green City. This investment will go a long way in supporting our efforts to improve air quality in our highly impacted communities, and to support further upgrades to our fleets with more all-electric vehicles."

Overall, this $200 million investment round will be the third that Electrify America is taking, with each one lasting 30 months. The investment and education programs aimed at California are a part of the larger nationwide effort Volkswagen has been conducting since the fall, 2016, following its diesel settlement with federal agencies and CARB, designed to total $2 billion over 10 years. The second 30-month round concludes at the end of this year, so the plans announced this week are aimed at the third round. By the end of this round in December, Electrify America expects to have 800 stations featuring 3,500 DC fast chargers online.

This next round of investment in EV infrastructure and education won't be limited just to station building efforts, of course, as Electrify America continues to focus on brand-neutral education and awareness efforts, hardware development, support for tech incubator groups and greater EV adoption.