California Approves $437M Funding To Build Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) on Thursday announced a $437 million budget towards achieving its 2030 goal of five million zero-emission vehicles (ZEV) on road.

What Happened: The funding will go to Southern California Edison (SCE), a subsidiary of Edison International EIX, which, according to CPUC, will use it to install 38,000 chargers.
The program particularly "prioritizes multi-unit dwellings and disadvantaged communities because they face barriers to transportation electrification," CPUC claimed.

SCE kicked off the Charge Ready program, the largest single-utility electric vehicle charging program in the country, back in 2016.  

The initial proposal for the Charge Ready program was pegged at $760 million. The final proposal that has beeen approved comes at a reduce ratepayer costs of 40%, with only a 20% reduction in charging ports, as per CPUC.

Why It Matters: Electric vehicle sales have surged in the United States, with market leader Tesla Inc.'s TSLA stock up over 435% year-till-date.

Nevertheless, EV sales made up for only about 2% of the total automobile sales in the U.S. last year, according to the U.S. Department of Energy data.

Price Movement:

Edison shares closed about 1.3% higher at $51.75 at the time of the market close on Thursday.