Two local entities have taken steps to boost Southern California’s electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

Venice-based EVPassport Inc. announced this month that it will develop one of the state’s largest electric vehicle charging hubs to date at an Indian tribe-owned casino in eastern San Diego County. The charging hub, to be developed in partnership with the Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians, will have more than 400 mid-range chargers and 8 dual-port fast chargers; it could come online by next spring.

Meannwhile, the downtown-based Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator announced last month that it had been awarded a $1.5 million federal grant to help install charging station infrastructure for heavy-duty freight trucks next to the Port of Los Angeles.

EVPassport’s approximately $20 million deal with the Viejas Indian tribe and Maada’oozh, an American Indian-owned sustainable energy logistics company, calls for the charging company to install, operate and maintain 412 “L-2” chargers and eight fast-chargers on an outdoor parking lot at the tribe’s casino in Alpine, a small town in the mountains of eastern San Diego County. 

L-2 chargers require 240 volts (a standard wall outlet is 120 volts), can provide up to 80 miles of vehicle range per hour of charging and can fully charge a vehicle in four to 10 hours. They can easily be installed in most home settings and are at present the most common chargers available at public charging stations.

The direct current fast-chargers can handle up to 480 volts and provide an 80% charge within an hour for most electric vehicles. They are designed for charging vehicles that are making longer trips.

The Viejas casino and resort is adjacent to Interstate 8, a major artery connecting San Diego with Phoenix. According to the California Department of Transportation, that stretch of highway carried an average of about 105,000 cars per day in 2021.

EVPassport, which has developed a software platform to operate electric vehicle charging stations, also installs and operates charging stations and hubs for commercial and multifamily customers. This is one of the largest single deals for the company, which has deployed about 10,000 chargers across the country.

“When completed, this super-hub will … bring charging to both the guests of the Viejas resort and to the thousands who travel on the I-8 corridor every day,” Hooman Shahidi, EVPassport’s chief executive, said in the announcement. 

“Private-sector investment like this, coupled with public-sector partnerships, will help us build out a charging network that will accelerate the adoption of EV’s,” he added.

The announcement said the hub should be completed by the spring.

The $1.5 million grant to the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator for development of charging infrastructure for heavy-duty freight trucks at the Port of Los Angeles was awarded through the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, with assistance from Rep. Nanette Barragán, D-Long Beach.

The money will be used to lay the electric charging groundwork for a heavy-duty electric vehicle charing depot now in the planning stages for a site in Wilmington, next to the Port of Los Angeles. The funding announcement was made at this site.

“Goods movement is critical to California’s prosperity, but is also the single largest source of air pollution in Greater LA,” Matt Petersen, the incubator’s chief executive, said in the announcement. “Thanks to Representative Barragán, this initiative will bring to fruition years of work to advance zero-emissions solutions to replace dirty diesel drayage trucks.”