Emergency preparedness: direct current fast charging station sites.

Plain English Breakdown

The official source material does not provide specific penalties for non-compliance, but mentions that violations of the Public Utilities Act or related requirements would be considered crimes.

Emergency Preparedness: Electric Vehicle Charging Stations

The bill requires the Office of Emergency Services to create guidelines and plans for maintaining electric vehicle charging stations during emergencies.

What This Bill Does

• Requires the Office of Emergency Services, in consultation with the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission, to establish a working group by July 1, 2027, to evaluate the resilience of publicly available electric vehicle fast charging stations during disasters.
• The working group must issue guidelines for city and county emergency managers on how to incorporate these recommendations into local emergency plans by January 1, 2028.
• Identifies direct current fast charging station sites that are important to maintain during emergencies based on specified factors and requires operators of these sites to submit an emergency management plan considering backup power options by January 1, 2028.
• Requires electrical corporations to consider electric vehicle charging stations in their annual reports and emergency response plans.

Who It Names or Affects

• The Office of Emergency Services
• Electric vehicle charging station operators
• City and county emergency managers
• Electrical corporations

Terms To Know

Direct Current Fast Charging Station Sites

Places where electric vehicles can quickly charge their batteries using direct current electricity.

Emergency Management Plan

A plan that outlines how to handle emergencies, including providing backup power for charging stations.

Limits and Unknowns

• The bill does not specify what happens if operators do not submit their emergency management plans.
• It is unclear who will fund the creation and implementation of these guidelines and plans.
• There are no details on how often or when the Office of Emergency Services will review and update these emergency plans.

Official Summary Text

AB 2543, as amended, Ransom.
Emergency preparedness:
electric vehicle fast charging infrastructure.
direct current fast charging station sites.
Existing law, the California Emergency Services Act, generally prescribes duties with regard to various types of emergencies and disasters, including requiring the Governor to coordinate the State Emergency Plan and those programs necessary for the mitigation of the effects of an emergency in this state. Existing law requires the Office of Emergency Services to include in the State Hazard Mitigation Plan an evaluation of risks from specified causes of a long-term electrical outage and, based on that analysis, requires the plan to identify cost-effective and feasible measures to lessen risks from those hazards, including, hardening the critical infrastructure of electrical utilities.
This bill would require, on or before
June
July
1, 2027, the Office of Emergency
Services to, in
Se
rvices, in
consultation with the
State Energy Resources Conservation and
Development Commission establish a working group to evaluate the resilience of publicly available electric vehicle fast charging stations during and following a disaster. The bill would require, on or before January 1, 2028, the working group to issue guidelines to city and county emergency managers on how its recommendations may be incorporated into local emergency plans. The bill would define terms for its purposes.
Office of Energy Infrastructure Safety, to determine direct current fast charging station sites that are important to maintain during an emergency based on specified factors and to develop recommendations on how long backup power would be necessary during an emergency. The bill would
require, on or before January 1, 2028, an operator of a direct current fast charging station site identified by the
Office of Emergency Services as described above to submit an emergency management plan to the Office of Emergency Services and the Office of Energy Infrastructure Safety that considers backup power options to be used during and after the event of an emergency, as provided.
Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. Under existing law, the commission requires, as part of a general order, electrical corporations to submit an annual report and emergency response plan to the commission.
This bill would require an electrical corporation to consider electric vehicle charging stations in its annual report and emergency response plan.
Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act
or any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime.
Because the provisions of this bill would be a part of the act and therefore a violation of the bill’s requirements or of a commission action implementing its requirements would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.

Current Bill Text

Download Bill PDF