California Has More EV Charging Ports than Gas Pumps, but Demand Struggles

Breitbart ^ | 03/27/2025 | Joel B. Pollak

[ChicagoConservative27]

California now has more electric vehicle (EV) charging stations than gas nozzles, but consumer demand is struggling to meet Gov. Gavin Newsom’s target of ending gas-powered vehicle sales by 2035, and federal support is in doubt.

The Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday:

Electric vehicle charging ports now outnumber gas nozzles across the Golden State, a sign of the increasing number of zero-emission vehicles on the road. But the milestone arrives as the federal government has moved to deprioritize the shift away from gasoline-powered cars.

…

The number of accessible chargers across California has nearly doubled since 2022. Just since August, the last time these figures were publicly updated, the state has recorded roughly 26,000 additional publicly accessible EV chargers.

…

All of this expansion is taking place as California aims to ban the sale of gas-powered vehicles in the state by 2035 — though those plans have come under fire by the Trump administration and congressional Republicans.

[ChicagoConservative27]

California is the poster child for stuck on stupid.

[ComputerGuy]

Hook, line and sinker.

[FlingWingFlyer]

They’re going to have fewer charging ports after Daffy Crockette’s birthday on the 29th.

[nwrep]

Let them drink their cool aid.

[smokingfrog]

FYI - There is no such thing as a zero emissions vehicle.

[gitmo]

Do you have to pay money to use one of these public chargers?

[ansel12]

I remember the Fallbrook Library had all the front parking spaces especially marked for everything from handicapped to car pooling to some I can’t remember, and I think it was two EV parking spaces with what ‘looked like’ free charging at the time, but I don’t think it is free now.

I took photos of the special parking because there were so many categories of the closest to the door parking.

Remember all the free charging stations? it must have been nice to be wealthy and get the government rebates and then free fuel for your fancy new prestige car in the early days of the EV.

[Tell It Right]

Just since August, the last time these figures were publicly updated, the state has recorded roughly 26,000 additional publicly accessible EV chargers.

Not exactly truthful. This includes the really slow chargers that take hours to charge your EV to 80%. I used https://www.plugshare.com/, set the filter to show only the chargers that charge fast (150kW and higher), and for all EV charging types. Basically, showing only the chargers that would charge you up to 80% in 10-15 minutes. I then uploaded the screenshot to imgflip and this is what the real numbers of fast EV chargers look like in California. Multiply each of those orange does by 6 or 8 (number of chargers per station) and you're still way way lower than 26K.

[Tell It Right]

Do you have to pay money to use one of these public chargers?

Often they're free if they're the slow ones that take hours to charge your EV to 80%. For the 1,000 or so I put in comment # 8 (1,000 seems like a lot, but California is a large state) you have to pay for a charge. Those are the ones that'll charge your EV in 10 to 15 minutes.

[july4thfreedomfoundation]

Increasing number of “zero-emission” vehicles on the road?

Only 4% of the vehicles on the road in California are EVs.

[Empire_of_Liberty]

Can you easily make an adapter from car charge to AC? Free electricity might make it worth keeping a clothes dryer in the back of your van.

[econjack]

I call bull crap on the notion that there are more EV charging stations than gas pumps in CA. The figure appears to be from an LA Times article, but no source for the claim is given. Right now, the number of EV registered in CA represent 6% of the total number of cars registered. Given that, it seems unreasonable that 94% of cars are being service by fewer pumps than for 6% of the market.

[cgbg]

The Tesla hate by lefties will further hurt the “big picture” for electric vehicles.

Once “hate” enters the marketing picture it is hard to fix it—and “hate” does not make technical distinctions like this electric car vs that electric car.

Just ask Bud Light. The boycott “leaked” to other InBev brands, for example.

[Charles Martel]

They may be counting the number of EVs sold in CA, since every one comes with an electrical connector for at-home charging - even if it’s only 110v.

[Tell It Right]

Can you easily make an adapter from car charge to AC? Free electricity might make it worth keeping a clothes dryer in the back of your van.

Yes. Lots of EV's have V2L - Vehicle To Load. Mine (2022 Hyundai Ioniq) has a 120V plug underneath the back seat. And I can get an adapter to plug into the external car port as well (I think the max is 15 amps). Usually the idea for those is you can power a few small things like lights for a small camp site.

The pickups like the F-150 Lightning advertise that they can power a lot from the plugs in the bed of the truck (like a portable work site). Some advertise that with an adapter you can provide backup power to the home.

But I didn't look into using my EV for backup home power because I already have a home battery system for my solar to reduce the times I pull from the grid at night. My solar and battery system already provide what backup generators refer to as "whole house" power. So during the 4 months of the year that I pull from the grid, when a bad storm is forecasted, I sometimes change my inverter settings to direct the solar power first to the batteries to charge them up before powering the home (which means powering the home from the grid until the batteries are charged). During the 8 months of the year I rarely pull from the grid anyway, I don't change my inverter settings to prepare for a storm. I leave it set to direct solar first to the home, and charging the batteries only with excess solar power.

In the past half a year or so, the grid went down in my area 3 or 4 times for a few hours from an ice storm bringing down lines, or a car wreck into a pole. I had power to my home and wouldn't have noticed if I didn't hear my inverters beeping that they were in off-grid mode.

[oldbill]

I don’t believe that.
Prove it.

[roving]

How many are broke down?

[cuz1961]

i agree.

i my town there are about 5 ev chargers and over 60 gas pumps.

and my town straddles I-5

.

[Empire_of_Liberty]

Can I ask how long you expect your batteries to last, in terms of lifetime to replacement?

I think that keeping the batteries charged helps maximize the battery life (for batteries of all types) while it also keeps you most ready for an outage.

(BTW, I was thinking of using an ICE car with my clothes dryer and a few loads. ;-)

[econjack]

i my town there are about 5 ev chargers and over 60 gas pumps.

Methinks someone is trying to make EVs look better than they are. Recently, a Chevy Bolt owner needed to replace his battery after 9 years of service. The bill was $21,000 which was more than he paid for the car when he bought it. I would guess that the used car market for EVs isn't real good.