Finding an EV charging station in S.F. can be a challenge

16 electric car charging stations were installed at Britton Court Apartments in San Francisco. A citywide initiative, coupled with tax rebates and improved technology, could make it easier for residents to charge their EVs.

Lindsay Elia loved the car she chose as her first: a Chevy Bolt EV that’s fun to drive, easy to park and keeps the air clean.

There’s just one drawback: Charging it isn’t easy in San Francisco.

Public chargers near Elia aren’t always available, and the ones that are have time limits that prompt her to move the car before it’s fully charged. She sometimes charges it while going on a walk or while running errands at Stonestown Galleria.

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“It’s kind of inconvenient,” said Elia, who bought the car last fall. “It’s all these moving pieces.”

Elia lives in a condo in Potrero Hill, where she could theoretically install a charger in her parking spot — for several thousand dollars. Putting aside the large personal cost, it’s unclear how many chargers her building is capable of handling before her homeowner’s association would potentially need to install another costly electrical panel.

In a city where an estimated 70% of residents live in multi-dwelling units that likely lack access to dedicated overnight parking — and where conversion to EVs is a citywide priority — setting up these drivers with easy charging is a big task. San Francisco ranked sixth in metro areas nationally with the largest share of residential buildings with EV charging stations, while San Jose ranked first, according to a 2023 analysis by StorageCafe.

An electric vehicle receives a charge from inside an apartment at Britton Court Apartments in San Francisco in late June.

A new city initiative, emerging technology and government rebates could alter the landscape for renters and multifamily residents like Elia — but it will take time. San Francisco has around 1,000 publicly accessible chargers and aims to have 1,700 installed by 2030, according to the city’s Department of the Environment.

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“Until very recently, renters have been pretty much left out of the EV transition, which is a huge equity issue,” said Carleen Cullen, the co-founder and executive director of Cool the Earth, a climate change advocacy nonprofit.

In June, the Mayor’s Office announced a pilot program that would allow charging providers to install chargers on curbside parking spaces, which will inform a citywide effort to ramp up in an efficient manner.

This way, multifamily dwellers and renters can reap the benefits homeowners have by simply charging while they are at home, with their car parked on the curb in designated spots for EVs. In a similar fashion, Los Angeles County has converted around 600 city-owned lightposts into EV chargers.

Some of the first curbside chargers through the pilot could arrive early next year, said Tyrone Jue, the director of the Department of Environment overseeing the curbside charging feasibility study.

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“We want to be strategic and methodical about where these chargers are placed so people ultimately get the benefit,” Jue said. “There’s always the chicken and the egg, right?”

The city’s goal is to reach net-zero emissions and to have all new private vehicle sales be EVs by 2040. Last year, 37% of new car sales in the city were EVs and plug-in hybrids.

To incentivize more people to make the switch, it needs to be easy and economical, experts say. At the same time, the state has already struggled to keep up with the charging demand for new EV drivers.

As of the end of 2023, San Francisco was home to over 28,000 battery electric vehicles, constituting 7% of all light duty vehicles in the city. Though the northeast side of the city has the fewest EV registrations, public charging stations are concentrated there.

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Breakthroughs are also being made for multifamily buildings like Elia’s. Factors including a building’s age and electrical capacity, tight parking spaces, permitting and the high cost of installation have made it difficult for property owners to make the transition.

But new technology from Bay Area vendors like Pando Electric and GoPowerEV help solve electrical load capacity issues with software that spaces out charging overnight over several chargers, drawing less power at a time. They also save on installation and maintenance costs by eliminating the charging gun and cable components, which come with the cars themselves.

Jermaine Ramos waits for his Chevrolet Bolt SUV to charge at a Safeway in San Francisco’s Outer Richmond neighborhood on Tuesday.

Pando Electric started installing chargers in January and now has over 1,000 in the pipeline, said CEO and founder Aaron Li, who estimates that at around $1,000-$3,000, the company’s chargers cost almost half the price of a typical installation. GoPowerEV also reduces additional installation costs with its smart outlet, which allows two cars to charge at once.

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Both vendors praised Peninsula Clean Energy, which is investing $24 million in incentives to install 3,500 chargers in San Mateo County over four years, and Marin Clean Energy, which is offering up to $3,500 in rebates for each charging port, for being forward-thinking when it comes to multifamily dwellings.

In San Francisco, financial incentives apply largely to new construction, though there is a limited pilot program for existing buildings.

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. has also launched a program to install EV chargers at multifamily housing, nonprofits and small businesses in low-income communities. Ecology Action, which is implementing the program, said it expects to complete around 150 projects within two years. Consumers, businesses and tax-exempt entities like government and nonprofits can also receive federal tax credits for installing EV charging equipment until 2032.

Getting the word to landlords about the need to install chargers and how to do it is another part of the challenge.

“Apartment owners or managers are kind of flying blind,” said Dahlia Garas, the program director at UC Davis’ EV Research Center. “It’s a steep learning curve. If we want them to come on board and make that happen more quickly, we need to provide more guidance on how to do it.”

Many EV drivers without a personal charger or the possibility of one see it simply as a shift in schedule. Some may drop off the car at a nearby charger and pick it up later — either in around 45 minutes with a fast charger or several hours with a regular charger — while they run errands. They may spend time on their phones while their vehicle is stationed at a fast charger, and they may also have chargers at work.

Jermaine Ramos tracks the charging progress of his car while enjoying a breakfast burrito.

“I do miss the quick and easy thing, but it’s not that big of a hassle,” said Jermaine Ramos, a San Francisco State University student who charges at his local Safeway about once a week. “You just schedule your errands around charging, and you’ll be good.”

But Ramos echoed the simple need for more chargers to avoid waiting for one.

As EVs become more visible in her neighborhood and competition abounds, Elia feels the city isn’t moving fast enough to install chargers and that she may have to put up the money for her own. Californians bought electric cars in record numbers last year, with EVs becoming more affordable and the demand for used EVs growing.

“People need to charge at home to make it practical,” Elia said. “It seems like (San Francisco) is so far behind in this.”

Reach Ida Mojadad: [email protected]