Electricity

Electricity is traditionally a product of coal powered plants, but with both voluntary initiatives and mandates under California Senate Bills 1078 (2002) and 107 (2006), California’s Renewable Portfolio Standard, renewables such as wind, solar and small hydro are being used to generate electricity making electric vehicles a very sustainable mode of transportation, particularly if that vehicle is 100% electric.  For more information, click here.

To charge an electric vehicle, there are a few options including: Level 1, Level 2 and DC Fast Charge.  Level 1 is a standard 110v outlet; it would take approximately 20 hours to fully charge a Nissan Leaf (100 mile electric range) or about 10 hours for the Chevy Volt (40 miles electric range).  Level 2 is a 240v outlet and would require about 7 hours to fully charge the Leaf or 4 hours to fully charge the Volt.  Finally, the DC Fast Charge will fully charge a vehicle in about 20-30 minutes.  For personal vehicles, it is expected that the majority of charging will take place at home, ideally during off peak hours so as to save the customer some money and reduce stress on the utility grid.  To supplement charging at home, SFE is installing dozens of publicly accessible EV chargers throughout the City (click here for more information on the City’s EV Initiative for charging infrastructure) AND is working with several partner agencies and organizations to encourage employers and property owners/managers to provide EV charging infrastructure.