California Is Kicking Its EV Charger Plans Into High Gear

California has North America’s best EV charging network. Now it’s expanding that lead, with millions more for public fast charging.

Hyundai Ioniq 5 at Tesla Supercharger station in San Clemente, California

Photo by: Hyundai

Suvrat Kothari

By: Suvrat Kothari

Aug 5, 2025 at 1:00pm ET

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California will award millions of dollars more for the installation of public fast charging stations.
It's the hottest EV market in the U.S. with the best charging network in the country.
As the U.S. government withdraws its support from projects that make the air around you cleaner to breathe, California is stepping up its own efforts.

California already has more public and shared private electric vehicle charging stations than gasoline nozzles. Now the state is doubling down on that effort with the new Fast Charge California Project, which will award $55 million for the installation of ready-to-build EV charging projects.

The award can cover up to 100% of the installation costs, with the incentive capped at $50,000 per port that delivers speeds between 150 and 275 kilowatts. Stalls that deliver even higher output, exceeding 275 kW, can qualify for up to $100,000 per port in incentives.

Electrify America EV Chargers

Photo by: Electrify America

Access to charging stations has been among the largest barriers to higher EV adoption. However, things are improving rapidly on that front, with the number of EV chargers in the U.S. steadily increasing, and the stations becoming more reliable and powerful than ever. California has long shown the rest of the country how to achieve that, which faster permitting and generous funding.

However, the U.S. as a whole has fallen far behind China, not just in EV sales but also the number of charging stations deployed. Guangdong Province—which is China's equivalent of California as the country's economic engine—alone has more EV chargers than the whole of U.S.

In U.S. though, California is going pretty well. The state has nearly 59,000 public charging stations, more than the combined total of the next three states. New York ranks second with 17,873 ports, followed by Florida with 12,553 ports and Texas with 11,463 public charging ports, according to the Alternative Fuels Data Center.

Honda Prologue charging at a Tesla Supercharger

Honda Prologue charging at a Tesla Supercharger.

Photo by: Honda

Now the U.S. government has withdrawn its support for clean energy programs. The Department of Energy even expressed its ambitions to supercharge fossil fuel mining with a social media post, with a picture of coal captioned “She is the moment.” Some states are taking matters into their own hands, doubling down on their efforts to continue combating greenhouse gas emissions.

California’s new EV charging program will prioritize the deployment of EV charging stations in low-income and disadvantaged communities. The U.S. government’s own studies have shown that air pollution is unevenly distributed, with marginalized communities facing far greater exposure to poor air quality that’s linked to lung diseases and respiratory illnesses.

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Additionally, the program supports the Tesla-style North American Charging Standard (J3400) plugs, but requires stations to have at least 50% of their ports compatible with CCS. Applications for California’s EV charger funding will be open from August 5 to October 29 and will be awarded on a first-come, first-served basis.

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