EV Fleet program frequently asked questions

SB 350 directs the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to address the single largest emitting sector in the state's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions inventory: transportation. Specifically, the law declares that meeting the state's 2030 and 2050 GHG reduction goals will require widespread transportation electrification. The law solidifies the role of utilities in supporting TE, among other objectives: Widespread transportation electrification requires electrical corporations to increase access to the use of electricity as a transportation fuel. As a long-time supporter of clean transportation through its own utility fleet investments and customer programs, PG&E is committed to accelerating widespread TE throughout its service territory and supporting customer adoption of clean-fuel vehicles across all sectors and communities.

• With the Governor's Executive order targeting 250,000 EV chargers by 2025, including 10,000 DC Fast Chargers, we expect to have a 40% share, or 100,000 EV chargers, including 4,000 DC Fast Chargers.
• The ratios of chargers to vehicles and types and locations of chargers will continue to evolve and may shift significantly due to variables, such as battery technology, ridesharing and autonomous vehicles
• Additional investments beyond the above numbers will be needed through 2030 to support additional passenger EV adoption post-2025 and non-light duty vehicles, such as trucks, buses, and freight equipment; our recently approved EV Fleet program looks to jumpstart the development of infrastructure in these sectors

The program is funded through customer rates. The impact on a customer's bill is small. This is similar to other public purpose programs that are funded by customers. More EVs on the road benefits all of California with cleaner air – which is good for everyone.

As approved by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) in May 2018, the EV Fleet program includes the following key elements:

• EV Fleet program would provide make-ready charging infrastructure for medium/heavy-duty EVs over the next five years¹
• The program objective is to support the conversion of fleet vehicles to electric by lowering the upfront cost of electric charging infrastructure, and spur customer and Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) activity
• The program target is to install infrastructure at 700+ sites by end of Q4 2023 supporting 6,500 medium- and heavy-duty vehicles
• The program has a budget of $236 million. To increase access to all, 25% of program investment would go to disadvantaged communities (DACs)

¹Subject to funding availability and satisfaction of minimum eligibility criteria.

There are two ownership structures in the EV Fleet program:

Option 1: Customer designs, builds, owns, operates, and maintains Behind-The-Meter (BTM) make-ready infrastructure.¹ In this case, PG&E will construct, own, and maintain all To-The-Meter (TTM) costs² and provide an incentive for BTM costs.³

Option 2: PG&E designs, builds, owns, operates, pays for, and maintains all infrastructure from the transformer up to the charger.

¹Behind the meter (BTM) infrastructure work for EV Fleet program includes everything from the meter up to the charger stub (excluding the charger) – BTM switchgear, any stepdown transformers (if needed), concrete pads for the equipment, trenching and installing of conduits and wires to the charger stubs.

² To the meter (TTM) infrastructure work for EV Fleet program includes everything upstream of the meter - stepdown transformers, circuit protection equipment, concrete pads for the equipment, trenching and installing of conduits and wires to the switchgear.

³ Exclusive of the cost of the charger.

Yes, several state rebate programs are fully stackable with EV Fleet. We are closely coordinating with major grant fund sources including the California Air Resources Board, California Energy Commission, and Bay Area Air Quality Management District to help you best co-fund your project.

We will be installing a mix of level 2 and DC fast chargers. The program will accept a variety of charger installation configurations based on the participants' charging needs. Program participants can select their charging station vendor from PG&E's list of approved vendors (PDF, 112 KB).

The program supports on road and off-road medium- and heavy-duty vehicles including, but not limited to:

• Light-heavy-duty trucks
• Medium-duty trucks
• Heavy-duty trucks
• Transit buses
• Commuter buses
• School buses
• Airport ground support equipment (GSE)
• Port cargo handling equipment (CHE)
• Transport refrigeration units (TRU)
• Truck stop electrification (TSE)
• Forklifts (class 1)
• Other non-light-duty vehicles

1. Complete an interest form to indicate your interest in participating in the program
2. A PG&E EV Specialist will reach out to you to discuss program eligibility, process and timeline, and connect you with vehicle manufacturers as appropriate
3. Complete a program application to be considered for program participation

As per the CPUC Decision requirement, PG&E requires a Purchase Order for a minimum of two medium-or heavy-duty electric vehicles. However, having a bigger site would be advantageous from program cost and vehicle target perspective hence we would prefer bigger sites where possible. There is no maximum.

The term of the agreement is 10 years as the program requires all customers to operate and maintain the EVSE equipment for a period of 10 years.

The program agreement would end and the contractual arrangement with the customer would convert into applicable tariff arrangement at the time.

The 10-year commitment is a requirement in the CPUC decision and therefore not something we are likely to be able to modify. PG&E can provide customers with information about pro-rating their responsibility for the funding they receive in the event that they release the site or infrastructure prior to the 10-year term.

Yes, PG&E would install infrastructure to support vehicles to be procured within 5 years of program contract execution. PG&E will require participants seeking infrastructure to support future vehicle purchases to provide a schedule of anticipated vehicle purchases and associated load increase. PG&E reserves the right to implement deficiency billing if the customer does not procure anticipated vehicles and hence doesn’t meet the anticipated load increase. In such case, the customer will be billed for the cost of infrastructure installed to support the difference between planned and actual load.

PG&E will collect utilization data from the chargers on a daily basis in the form of 15 min intervals in additional to basic site level information. Collection of this data is a requirement set by the CPUC and will be reported to the CPUC annually.

The EV Fleet customers will be on their respective current business rate plans until our new Commercial EV Rate proposal is approved by the California Public Utilities Commission.

This will need to be determined before the customer signs the program contract, which formally accepts the customer into the program with detailed project scope. The project scope will be based on preliminary desktop review, site walk findings, preliminary design and project cost estimate which will reflect either the PG&E-owned or customer-owned make-ready infrastructure approach.

It is important that interested customers involve all necessary stakeholders throughout the process so fleet electrification infrastructure is planned for and executed in a timely manner. Sustainability leads, finance leads, transportation or fleet operation leads and senior executives within a customer’s organization are all key stakeholders that should weigh in on the purchase of electric vehicles and associated spend on charging infrastructure. Conversations with those decision makers early in the process would be helpful for timely implementation of key decisions as pertaining to program participation.

In the case that the customer elects to construct their own make-ready infrastructure for the behind-the-meter portion from the meter to the charger stub, the customer must hire qualified and state-licensed labor in order to be eligible for the program's make-ready infrastructure incentive.

In the case that PG&E constructs the entire make-ready infrastructure, the work will be executed by the design and construction contractors qualified by PG&E.

Complete an interest form to indicate your interest in participating in the program.

A PG&E EV specialist will reach out to discuss program eligibility, process and timeline, and make connections with vehicle manufacturers as appropriate.

Complete a program application to be considered for program participation.

Following the completion of the EV Fleet program application, the EV Fleet electrification process, from design to execution, takes approximately 9 to 13 months. Learn about the step-by-step process to fleet elimination (PDF, 1 MB).

PG&E requires a Purchase Order for a minimum of two medium-or heavy-duty electric vehicles. However, having a bigger site would be advantageous from a program cost and vehicle target perspective, hence, bigger sites are preferred where possible. There is a maximum threshold for incentives of 25 vehicles per site, but sites with more vehicles may be considered on an individual basis.

Fleets with plans to purchase EVs in the future can participate as well, as PG&E will install infrastructure to support vehicles to be procured within 5 years of program contract execution. PG&E requires participants seeking infrastructure to support future electric vehicle deployments to provide a schedule of anticipated vehicle purchases and associated load increase.

PG&E will collect utilization data from the chargers daily in the form of 15-minute intervals in addition to basic site level information.

The term of the agreement is 10 years as the program requires all customers to operate and maintain the EVSE equipment for a period of 10 years. After 10 years, the program agreement would end and the contractual arrangement with the customer would convert into applicable tariff arrangement at the time.

Sustainability leads, finance leads, transportation or fleet operation leads and senior executives within the organization are all key stakeholders that should weigh in on the purchase of electric vehicles and associated spend on charging infrastructure. Conversations with those decision makers early in the process will be helpful for timely implementation of key decisions pertaining to program participation.

Each fleet needs to consider a handful of factors when deciding on the right EV charging infrastructure. For example, determining how much energy is needed, when the vehicles will be charged and how often, and how quickly the vehicles need to be charged, are all part of the equation when preparing for EVSE installation. Learn more with PG&E’s EV Guidebook (PDF, 6.9 MB), which provides fleets detailed advice on how to best select, install and maintain the right charging solution to help with fleet electrification.

A good first step is to ask the EVSE provider if they have experience charging the vehicle purchased. If not, ask the OEM and/or dealer for the charging specifications that should then be provided to the EVSE provider to ensure all requirements are met. Call an EV Fleet specialist to get more detailed advice on the right configuration.

Yes, to accommodate technology advancements and improvements over the next 10 years, the EV Fleet program allows for upgrades to the EVSE to fit the needs of newer electric vehicles. However, allowed upgrades are specific to each site.

EV Fleet customers will be on their respective current business rate plans until the new Business EV Rate is available (expected availability May 2020). The Business EV Rate eliminates demand charges, and instead uses two monthly subscription pricing models to enable more affordable charging, simplified pricing structures, and improved certainty for budgeting.

Customers choose their subscription level based on energy needs. In general, those that are projected to need 100 kW or more should choose the high use EV rate, and those that use under 100 kW should choose the low use EV rate. Customers can change subscriptions levels to suit their evolving needs. However, it’s important to keep in mind that if customers go over their subscription level, without changing it first, overage fees may apply.

Currently, businesses can offset their electricity load through solar energy generation. This equipment will need to operate on a different meter; however, they may share to-the-meter (TTM) infrastructure. The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) allows businesses to install solar to support power generation up to 110% of their usage over the previous 12 months. For fleets deploying electric vehicles and therefore expecting their power usage to increase, PG&E will work with the fleet to determine the projected power needs. That projection can then be used to develop a solar plan. To learn more, visit PG&E’s solar energy for businesses.

Adding energy storage for back-up charging is a great way to improve fleet resiliency. This equipment will need to operate on a different meter; however, they may share TTM infrastructure. To offset the cost of energy storage, fleets may be eligible for rebates through PG&E’s Self Generation Incentive Program.