EVCS, an Arcadia-based electric vehicle fast-charging network, is using a new grant to establish charging stations in rural, low-income and disadvantaged communities in California.

The $1.9 million grant was provided by the California Energy Commission’s Rural Electric Vehicle Charging program. With the grant, the company will install 30 DC fast chargers and eight level-two chargers. An EVCS spokesperson said that grant funding is done by project and will be disbursed once it reaches certain milestones and requirements in the contract. To get paid, EVCS will have to meet expectations laid out in the contract, such as a minimum 50% of total project costs being applied in “disadvantaged or low-income” communities.

EVCS co-founder and chief executive Gustavo Occhiuzzo said the chargers will be put in seven different locations across Central and Northern California, and that the grant stipulated each location must be in a rural, low-population area. He said that having chargers in remote locations will serve two types of users with the goal of expanding the state’s EV infrastructure.

“It’s to accommodate what we call the destination charger for people that were going there in the first place, most likely locals, and then the people that will detour and deviate from their journey to recharge, and then keep going,” Occhiuzzo said. “Every installation that we do really accommodates both situations.” 

The CEC’s Rural Electric Vehicle grants fall under its Clean Transportation Program. The grant solicitation notice stated that the grants are an offer for companies to demonstrate business and technology models that can deploy public EV charging infrastructure to increase EV access and travel options for rural residents. The CEC describes itself as the lead state agency working to drive the transition to clean, zero-emission EVs.

Palms Springs-based Zev Stations Co. recently announced it received a $4 million grant to establish EV charging stations with high-throughput hydrogen fueling options. Tesla Inc. walked away from the funding opportunity earlier this year, reportedly due to its “unnecessarily cumbersome” payment infrastructure requirements.

EVCS’ chargers are available to the public, and Occhiuzzo said that its goal right now is to double its charger count to over 1,500 by the end of the year. The company also said that it plans to enter more than 35 new cities this year and that, in part due to the grant, this will include markets in Mendocino County, Butte County and San Joaquin County.

“There’s a number of, you know, friction points for people to fully transition (to EVs),” Occhiuzzo said. “Now that the industry is entering the mass adoption segment of the process, a high density of charging stations becomes crucial. We plan to really be a facilitator of this transition with our infrastructure.”