UPDATE: BOMA California Advocacy Update - EV Charging Station Mandate Proposed

UPDATE - April 30, 2014

BOMA California members were successfully able to have AB 2565 amended to remove the mandate that electric vehicle chargers be installed in all parking lots with 50 or more spaces. 

However, the bill now takes a policy that was meant to protect residential property owners from a homeowner’s association preventing them from installing charging stations, and applies those protections to commercial and residential leases to trump the property owner.

Although we are happy to work with the author in to advance his goal of trying to increase installations of EV Charging stations, BOMA members believe that this bill has enough unintended consequences and it needs to be amended.  BOMA California members conclude that the only efficacious way to significantly increase installations is to incentivize charging stations by reducing the ROI– either through subsidies, matches, grants, and/or tax credits, actual consumer demand, or as a tenant amenity.

Click here to see the current version of the bill and see how it could impact lease negotiations.

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Original Post - April 9, 2014

Electric Vehicle (EV) Charging Station Mandate

Last week, a bill in the California State Legislature, AB 2565, was amended to require that at least one percent of parking stalls have an electric vehicle charging station installed for all lots with 51 or more spaces. 

BOMA California has received member feedback regarding, costs, operational issues, loss of use, ADA issues, and feasibility of compliance, and is working with the author to detail the issues related the proposed mandate.  Although BOMA members understand that a growing number of electric vehicles are on the road - a good thing considering that they promote environmental sustainability - it would be prudent to allow for data-driven market solutions to this issue.  

EV-Ready Building Standard Proposals

In response to an Executive Order issued by the Governor in late-2012, the Department of Housing & Community Development (HCD) and the Building Standards Commission (BSC) are moving forward with regulations to require EV-Ready building standards starting in July of 2015. 

Instead of installing fully operational (and costly) charging stations for electric vehicles, these building standards would be limited to items that would facilitate the later installation of the charging stations at a significantly reduced cost. 

For example, all new homes will be required to have an electrical panel with enough empty plug slots to allow for the later installation of EV charging equipment. In addition, there will also need to be 1-inch wide conduit (piping) for the later installation of the wiring connecting the electrical panel with a point in the garage.  For apartment complexes having more than 16 units and commercial projects, similar requirements for electrical panels and conduit will apply to 3% of the parking spaces.

At least six legislative measures have been introduced in the Legislature to help the State of California understand the demand for EV charging infrastructure going forward and how to meet it. As an industry, BOMA views these measures as positive steps for environmentally sustainable transportation in California. 

The regulatory process will start in April and adoption is expected this summer with the standard applying to projects whose permit applications are submitted to the local building department on or after July 1, 2015.