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Charging Stations:

Past & Present

Craig Childers

California Air Resources Board

Contents

• Early infrastructure project example: CalEPA parking 

garage

• Early public e infrastructure in California

• Early e infrastructure: general conclusions

• Understated achievement: SAE J1772 Connection Std.

• Charge station location priorities based on past 

experience

• California Plug-in Electric Vehicle Collaborative

• Next steps
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1990's Infrastructure Example: 

CalEPA Parking Garage

• > 20 EVSEs, 50-50 mix of Inductive and Conductive 

(EVI/ Clipper Creek & Inductive-TAL)

• Key challenge:

– Garage owned by

City of Sacramento

– Charging equipment 

owned by State

1990's Infrastructure Example: 

CalEPA Parking Garage

• Transformer/ panel located on top deck

• Cost: $6,000- $7,000 per EVSE!

• City (facilities owner) dictated several requirements:

Toughest one: 

fleet charging spaces 

had to be installed in the

least desirable location

...furthest from where

power enters facility!
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1990's Infrastructure Example: 

CalEPA Parking Garage

Lessons learned:

• Tenant (non-owner) arrangement can introduce 

considerable challenge and additional cost to a 

charging station project

– Was an exceptional circumstance at the time,

but might be a more common arrangement now

• Multiple connection types introduce considerable extra 

cost 

Early California e-infrastructure Status

• Estimated that ~3,000 Public EVSE's may still exist in 

California

– Not all in working condition

– Some still operation stations were maintained and 

repaired by volunteers! 

• Electric Auto Association/ Tom Dowling

• Good news: CEC has awarded $1.9M infrastructure 

grant to Clipper Creek to update California's existing 

public EVSEs 

“Clipper‏Creek‏Update‏Existing‏EV‏infrastructure‏To‏SAEJ1772‏Without‏Stranding‏Existing‏Drivers”
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Early e-infrastructure:

General Conclusions

• Common assumption: No business case for the public 

sale of electricity to EVs (no projects seriously funded 

or attempted)

– General consensus was that a driver might pay 

more for the billing system transaction at an 

underutilized station than for electricity consumed

• At that time, most in the industry believed the primary 

purpose of public charging infrastructure was to give 

reassurance to potential buyers (that is- to sell cars)

– This is why GM contributed so much to deploying 

these public EVSEs

E Infrastructure Connection 

Standards: Past Experience

• At one time, there were 5 incompatible EV charging 

connection types!

• This was later reduced to 2 basic types:

– “Inductive”‏)paddle)

– “Conductive”‏)SAE‏J1772, formerly with Avcon 

connector)

• Now- only one!
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SAE J1772 Connection Standard

• Not widely known that California ARB requires SAE 

conductive connector (to earn ZEV credit)

– No SAE inlet (and on-board charger), no ZEV credit!

• Other ZEV states also duplicate this requirement

• Tesla Roadster and BMW mini-e were exempted 

– Manufactured during transition from old to to new 

SAE connector

– These may be the last California EVs that aren't 

equipped with new-style SAE inlets

SAE J1772 Connection Standard

• “Any‏car- any‏station”

• Not just a public infrastructure benefit- also helps with 

charging at:

• Workplace

• Fleets with mixed EV types

• MFD (Apartments/ Condos)
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Near term opportunities based on past 

infrastructure experience 

• Public needs impartial education! ...a source where 

EV owners, and, potential owners can get unbiased 

information. 

• Streamline local permit process and/or encourage 

pre-installation‏and/or‏consider‏”pre-installation”‏

ahead of vehicle purchase

• Be wary of public charging infrastructure 

deployment:

– Best‏to‏wait‏until‏DOE's‏”EV‏Project”‏reveals‏

whether drivers will actually make use of public 

charging, and what types of locations prove to be 

the most useful

Charge station location priorities 

based on past experience

• Highest: 

– Residential / Multi-Dwelling units/ Fleet depot

• Medium: 

– Workplace/ Park & Ride Lots/ Transit Stations 

(including public lots near employers that do not 

have their own parking lots)

• Lowest: 

– Public‏non‏”Destinations”‏)level‏II‏at‏a‏gas‏station)

• Soon‏to‏be‏studied‏again‏with‏DOE‏”EV‏Project”
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Charge station locations based on past 

experience

“...don’t‏overbuild‏the‏public‏charging‏

‏“infrastructure

Don Hillebrand/ Argonne summary giving several 

summary comments from last week’s Clean Cities 

conference

Next Steps:

California Plug In Electric Vehicle Collaborative

• Objective: To develop a strategic plan for 

commercializing plug-in electric vehicles in California

• Council will consist of leaders from key stakeholder 

organizations including California agencies, electric 

utilities, and vehicle manufacturers

• The strategic plan is due out by the end of 2010
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Session L3: Infrastructure Support: 

Experience and Installation

Remainder of session will consist primarily of 

presentations. There will also be related panel 

‏Connect“‏on‏afternoon‏this‏later‏sessions

Track”‏)Room‏A2) with more opportunities to 

ask questions:

• 3:30 PM Infrastructure Panel: Part 1:

Previous Experience (Enid & Joel)

• 4:15 PM Infrastructure Panel: 

Part 2: Planning for the Future

Session L3: Infrastructure Support: 

Experience and Installation

• Joel Pointon, San Diego Gas and Electric

• Enid Joffe, Clean Fuel Connection

• Arindam Maitra, EPRI