Southern California Edison’s new program to expand electric vehicle charging for trucks, buses, forklifts and other industrial vehicles received state approval today, advancing a key component of the company’s vision for a clean energy future.

The  investment program for medium- and heavy-duty vehicle charging, which has been given the go-ahead by the California Public Utilities Commission, is designed to help broaden California’s electric transportation market over a five-year period.

“We’ve specifically tailored this plan to Southern California, where 40 percent of the goods entering the nation come through the region’s ports and travel over our highways,” said Jill Anderson, SCE vice president for Customer Programs and Services. “Electrifying the industrial and commercial vehicles that move those goods will eliminate the leading source of harmful air pollution in our communities.”

The $356 million program approved today is modeled after SCE’s successful Charge Ready pilot program for electric passenger cars. Through the new program, which will be known as Charge Ready Transport, SCE plans to install infrastructure for at least 870 SCE customer sites by 2024.

The sites are expected to support about 8,500 medium- and heavy-duty EVs. At least 25 percent of the program’s infrastructure budget will be dedicated to vehicles operating at ports and warehouses in SCE’s territory.

The program approved today also gives participating customers the option to own, operate and maintain the infrastructure installed on their premises. Participants who choose this option will manage and pay for the installation of the customer-side infrastructure and will be eligible to receive a rebate for up to 80 percent of those costs.

Most participants in communities that are severely impacted by pollution and economic hardship will receive a rebate for as much as half of the cost of their EV charging stations. These communities, designated as “disadvantaged communities,” or DACs, by the state, are often located near ports and warehouses and along freeway corridors. This rebate will also be available for all participants whose charging stations serve electric school and transit buses. 

Additionally, participants are required to buy at least two EVs or convert at least two fossil-fuel vehicles to electric.

SCE will offer attractive commercial rate options to make EV charging more affordable during times of the day that benefit both customers and the grid.

“Charge Ready Transport will help to expand the use of electricity as a fuel across many transportation sectors, and the resulting improvements will target reducing pollution in communities that are most impacted by medium- and heavy‐duty transportation,” said Katie Sloan, SCE principal manager for Innovation, Development and Controls.

Electrifying transportation is a key component of the clean energy vision SCE laid out in “The Clean Power and Electrification Pathway,” which calls for more than 7 million EVs in California and an electric grid that is supplied by 80 percent carbon-free energy by 2030. The plan will help achieve California’s ambitious goals for reducing harmful greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution.

Because the transportation sector accounts for nearly half of California’s greenhouse gas emissions and more than 80 percent of its air pollution, EVs will increasingly benefit the environment, especially as more clean energy resources are added to the grid.

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