Broken chargers, lax oversight: How California’s troubled EV charging stations threaten emission goals
LA TimesDoug McCune of Oakland was set to buy an electric car, a Mustang Mach-E. “I couldn’t count on finding a charger that’s functional or that doesn’t have a line of cars waiting because only one of four chargers is working,” McCune said. The energy commission “lacks sufficient data on EV charging reliability to assess the reliability of the state’s charging network,” according to a September 2023 report that its staff wrote. The federal government counts 43,481 public chargers in the state, only about 50% of California’s own tally, according to the report, though the state’s estimate “lacks precision.” A ChargePoint charger in Long Beach with a cracked, unreadable screen. “The good news is that much of that investment still has significant value.” The new CEO at ChargePoint, Rick Wilmer, who joined the company after running a salad-making machinery company, said he thinks the state’s investments are “money well spent.” He added: “We are passionate about improving the transportation system for the health of the planet.
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