Transportation Electrification - California Climate and Energy Collaborative

Barrier 1: Transportation Electrification

Barrier Statement

Lack of coordination between vehicle electrification, charging infrastructure, building systems, and the grid limits the resilience and energy benefits of transportation decarbonization, leaving communities unable to fully realize the potential of clean mobility investments and emission reductions.

How this barrier is being experienced across the state

Despite California’s aggressive ZEV policies and targets and record 29.1% ZEV adoption in Q3 2025, communities face persistent infrastructure gaps. Charging stations remain inconsistent and poorly distributed, with low-income and rural areas particularly underserved. In the Inland Southern California desert region, both EV adoption and charging infrastructure lag well behind state averages, exemplifying geographic and equity disparities. For Palm Springs, where transportation is the largest emissions source, inadequate infrastructure undermines both climate goals and resilience under extreme heat. Communities that access dollars for charging stations find that load service capacity creates long and costly delays. Even with existing EV fleets, communities cannot leverage their energy storage potential. Los Angeles stakeholders report that municipal and school buses use only a fraction of their battery capacity during daily routes, representing untapped storage. While electric fleets could support microgrids during outages, depleted batteries, lack of operational planning, and demand-response penalties prevent reliable use for backup power. Without coordinated planning, supportive policies, and integration with stationary storage, communities remain unable to fully realize the resilience and emissions benefits of transportation electrification investments.

Filterable Database

How communities are experiencing this barrier

View the details on what communities have shared with SLECC from across the state.

Key challenge discussed in - San Francisco Bay Area, Inland Deserts

Charging infrastructure remains inconsistent, insufficient, and poorly located, leaving many communities—especially low-income and rural areas—without reliable access to EV charging. This limits EV adoption and increases range anxiety for prospective users. One example of this is in the Inland Southern California desert region where EV adoption and charging remain well below the state average, reflecting geographic and equity disparities in clean transportation investment.

Key challenge discussed in - Los Angeles, Statewide

Fleet Electrification Creates Complex Load and Operational Management Challenges. Electrifying transit and municipal fleets introduces large, time-concentrated electrical loads that utilities and local planners are unprepared to manage. Coordinating charging schedules, managed charging, storage integration, and dual-use of fleet batteries for mobility and backup power requires sophisticated operational systems that many agencies lack, slowing deployment and increasing risk.

Key challenge discussed in - Statewide

Workforce shortages and uneven contractor capacity—especially outside major metros—slow EV charging and fleet deployment, while disadvantaged, rural, tribal, and multifamily communities face higher upgrade costs and less utility engagement. These constraints reinforce inequities in access to clean mobility and resilience benefits.

Key challenge discussed in - Statewide

EV charging infrastructure and electric fleets are rarely planned with resilience and emergency operations in mind. As a result, vehicles and chargers cannot reliably function during outages or serve as backup power or mobility assets for community response.

Key challenge discussed in - Statewide

Transportation electrification is undermined by fragmented governance and funding structures across transportation, building, and energy systems. Siloed departments and unaligned state and federal programs prevent coordinated planning for chargers, building electrical upgrades, and grid investments, forcing local governments to piece together disconnected solutions.

Local Solution Opportunities

SLECC stakeholders have brainstormed the following solution opportunities that can be taken by local leaders. Existing examples of progress or pathways to make further progress are highlighted if known.

Local Solution

Engage private sector partners to expand EV charging network.

Existing Examples of Progress:

The city of Palm Springs is exploring partnerships with retail centers, grocery stores, and other destinations to host chargers, creating a more distributed and convenient network for EV users

Further Progress Pathways

Region(s): Inland Deserts, Statewide

Local Solution

Integrate active transportation with heat adaptation.

Existing Examples of Progress:

Palm Springs received a grant to study the impact of heat and shade on transportation, which will inform infrastructure design, such as shaded walkways and cooling corridors, to make walking and biking viable even in hot months.

Further Progress Pathways

Region(s): Inland Deserts, Statewide

Local Solution

Expand public EV charging infrastructure.

Existing Examples of Progress:

Palm Springs operates roughly half of all publicly accessible chargers in the city, many of them city-owned or operated through license agreements with private firms. These chargers are strategically located in disadvantaged neighborhoods and public parking areas to encourage more electric vehicle (EV) trips and reduce fossil fuel dependency.

Further Progress Pathways

Region(s): Inland Deserts, Statewide

State Solution Opportunities

SLECC stakeholders have brainstormed the following solution opportunities that can be taken by state leaders. Existing examples of progress or pathways to make further progress are highlighted if known.

State Solution

Target State EV Charging Investments Using Equity, Climate, and Regional Need Metrics. The state should align transportation, climate, and energy programs to direct funding toward underserved, rural, desert, and extreme-heat regions using equity and pollution-burden metrics. State programs should support publicly owned or operated charging infrastructure and flexible delivery models to ensure charging access in locations where private investment is insufficient.

Existing Examples of Progress:

1. The Center for Sustainable Energy’s public dashboards tracking EV incentives and charger installations statewide, which help local agencies see where funding has (and hasn’t) flowed, providing a data-driven foundation for equitable infrastructure planning. 2. “Communities in Charge” Level 2 charging program—administered by CalSTART and funded by CEC—was highlighted as an example of how targeted programs can expand charging access in disadvantaged and tribal communities when equity metrics are applied

Further Progress Pathways

1. CPUC Proceeding R.23-12-008: Focused on Transportation Electrification Policy and Infrastructure. 2. CARB Transportation Grants and Incentives: There are opportunities to formally or informally provide suggestions on ongoing fundign opportunities like HVIP or Drive Forward: A new initiative reaffirming California’s leadership in clean air and climate policy and charting the next phase of the State’s light-, medium-, and heavy-duty vehicle programs.

Region(s): Inland Deserts, Statewide

State Solution

Fund Climate-Responsive Planning and Infrastructure for Transportation Electrification. The state should support research, planning, and technical assistance that account for extreme heat impacts on mobility, charging reliability, and infrastructure design—informing climate-adaptive solutions such as shaded facilities, cooling corridors, and heat-resilient materials.

Existing Examples of Progress:

State grant support enabled Palm Springs to study heat, shade, and transportation to inform shaded walkways and cooling corridors.

Further Progress Pathways

Region(s): Inland Deserts, Statewide

State Solution

Allow non-IOUs to be Program Administrators under the Transportation Electrification Framework

Existing Examples of Progress:

Further Progress Pathways

CPUC Proceeding R.23-12-008: Focused on Transportation Electrification Policy and Infrastructure.

Region(s): Statewide

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Additional Resources

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