California had 224,438 EV charging ports at public and limited-access sites as of June 30, 2026, the California Energy Commission (CEC) says, putting the state 47% of the way to what it now estimates it needs by 2030. The CEC's third charging assessment under state law AB 2127 projects California will need 478,000 such ports to support 6.8 million light-duty EVs in 2030.
What's in the count
- Public and limited access: the 224,438 total covers fully public sites such as grocery stores, shopping centers and gas stations, plus restricted sites such as workplaces, doctor's offices and multifamily buildings. Not every port is open to a passing driver.
- Fast chargers: about 23,000 publicly accessible chargers are DC fast chargers, which the CEC says can deliver almost a full charge in 15 to 45 minutes depending on the car and charger.
- Growth: since tracking began in 2021, the total is up 186% and DC fast-charger ports are up 221%.
- Home charging: the CEC separately estimates 1,179,497 chargers in homes of one to four units.
What the 2030 estimate needs
The 478,000-port estimate breaks down into 53,000 DC fast-charging ports, 136,000 ports at large multifamily housing and 289,000 Level 2 ports at public and other nonresidential sites, according to the CEC staff report. For medium- and heavy-duty vehicles, it estimates more than 54,000 ports for 93,000 vehicles, including buses, in 2030.
The CEC said it revised its projections because of gains in EV range and battery capacity, more DC fast chargers and more home charging. ChargerFeed notes the 2024 assessment counted chargers rather than ports, so the two editions' headline numbers aren't directly comparable.
Sales backdrop
The figures came in the same Oct. 16 release that put zero-emission vehicles at 19.1% of California's new car sales in the third quarter. For how Tesla did in the state, see Tesla's California Q3 registrations.