The Trump administration has aggressively reversed U.S. climate policy, focusing on fossil-fuel expansion, withdrawing again from the Paris Agreement, and suspending wind and solar renewable energy projects by revoking federal permits. It is rolling back stringent fuel economy standards and boosting manufacturers’ profitability for high-margin gas-powered SUVs and trucks while slowing the shift toward electric vehicles (EVs). The U.S. is now producing more oil and natural gas than Saudi Arabia and Russia combined. The federal government has also ended the pause on liquified natural gas (LNG) exports. These policy reversals are out of step with the rest of the world.
California, however, is still forging ahead in its transition to electric mobility. By 2024, the Golden State had 178,500 publicly accessible EV charging stations, double the number from two years before. For comparison, this number is significantly greater than our state’s 120,000 gas nozzles. California is a leader, in the U.S. and globally, in shifting to sustainable transportation.
According to California Energy Commission’s data, most of the state’s chargers are Level 2, while only 17,000 are fast chargers. Most hybrid vehicles cannot use fast chargers, a factor that influences the higher demand for Level 2 ports. Home installations of EV ports have also been increasing with more than 700,000 Level 2 chargers now in place. This investment complements the state’s public EV infrastructure network.