SoCal Edison Launches $360 Million Charging Program for Commercial Vehicles

Southern California Edison on May 20 rolled out its Charge Ready Transport program, which aims to add charging stations for medium- and heavy-duty electric vehicles in at least 870 commercial sites within the utility’s service territory. The utility plans to install infrastructure to support nearly 8,500 industrial vehicles over a five-year period.

The utility said that the program is customized for Southern California, where the goods transport industry is not only vital to the economy, but is also a major source of emissions. The $356 million initiative will provide rebates for certain customers, such as school bus operators and transit agencies to purchase charging stations.The program is modeled after the utility’s Charge Ready pilot, which was launched in 2016 to install charging ports for electric passenger cars.

The company said that fleet agency Foothill Transit entered into a deal last year under the pilot to install bus charging stations for 14 zero-emission plug-in electric buses. The utility is installing EV charging infrastructure to support 10 new electric buses for Porterville Transit.

SoCal Edison plans to expand its Charge Ready initiative for passenger cars to provide infrastructure for 48,000 chargers at workplaces, schools, community centers, and other locations where EVs are parked for extended periods of time.