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California’s embrace of zero-emission vehicles has made it home to more than 1 million electric vehicles served by 150,000-plus charging stations, with more on the way.
Although EV sales softened somewhat last year, EV ownership in California far outpaces any other state. Meanwhile, the Newsom administration stands behind its mandated goal that 35% of all new cars delivered for sale by 2026 will be zero-emission vehicles.
“Clean cars are here to stay,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said in December.
Despite a new administration in Washington, D.C., that favors internal combustion engines, he added, “California will continue fostering new innovations in the [EV] market.”
Helping to bring those innovations to life is Culver City-based Chargie, a major player in the EV markets of California and other states.
Chargie has installed nearly 20,000 chargers on more than 1,200 public and private properties, most of them in California, since 2017. If a Californian drives an EV, chances are they have used Chargie infrastructure at one time or another when they visited multifamily, office, retail, government and healthcare properties, among others.
“One in every four cars sold in California is an EV, and we are confident in the continued adoption of EVs by car owners,” said Chris Vargas, Chargie executive vice president of business development.
Vargas said Chargie plans to double the size of its charger network in 2025. This will allow it to keep pace with EV sales that he predicted will be fueled by technology improvements, particularly in battery performance, and by the declining costs of EV ownership. Continued refinements will allow motorists to charge their vehicles much faster, while the range of EVs will rival those of today’s most fuel-efficient gas-powered vehicles.
“The next generation of solid-state batteries are going to have ranges of 600 to 700 miles and be a lot safer as well,” he said. “Advances in battery technology will continue to drive EV adoption.”
Also helping to drive EV adoption are agreements Chargie continues to forge with important partners in California. Late in 2024, the company announced it was named an approved vendor by the Foundation for California Community Colleges, a nonprofit that supports the country’s biggest higher education system.
California’s community colleges are expected to spend $60M on EV charging projects in the next five years. Chargie will help them by performing site assessments and infrastructure installations and by providing 24/7 monitoring and support. The company will also help schools secure rebates and other incentives that can offset costs.
Vargas said the agreement not only benefits Chargie and FoundationCCC but also students, faculty and surrounding communities that will be able to take advantage of convenient, reliable charging stations.
“Affordable and easy access to charging eliminates range anxiety for EV owners,” he said. “The two places where you are most likely to charge — the bookends of typical EV usage — are at home and at work or school. People often park on campus for long periods of time, making it a great opportunity to charge.”
Another milestone for Chargie was the $9.3M in grant awards it received in 2024 from the California Energy Commission’s Reliable, Equitable and Accessible Charging for Multifamily Housing 2.0 program. The REACH 2.0 grants will fund the installation, operation and maintenance of more than 1,000 charging stations, with an emphasis on low-income and disadvantaged communities across the state.
“A big part of what Chargie and our partners in California do is to provide subsidies for disadvantaged communities, which can be defined not just as low-income but also those impacted by high traffic and pollution,” Vargas said. “The REACH 2.0 grants will help provide access to reliable charging and lower commuting costs for people in those communities.”
In a busy California EV market, Vargas said Chargie’s competitive advantages are threefold.
Many of the company’s senior leaders, including Vargas, came from the telecommunications world, so they understand the importance of reliable service, he said.
A point of pride for Chargie is its ability to monitor what Vargas called the “heartbeat” of its operations via service updates it receives every 30 seconds from every charger in its network. This allows it to quickly flag and fix potential service issues. Most of the time, Chargie can resolve these issues remotely, getting drivers back on the road faster.
“We built Chargie thinking of telecom reliability, which aims for 99.99% availability, and that’s how we run our network across thousands of chargers at thousands of sites,” he said.
The company also takes a turnkey approach to charger installations, which are overseen by Chargie's internal employees. Vargas said this means they thoroughly understand the infrastructure and can negotiate the best prices with subcontractors.
“No other provider does that,” he said.
Lastly, many members of the Chargie team have backgrounds in commercial real estate. As a result, they “really know big infrastructure,” whether the client is a college or a multifamily development, he said.
Noting that the California CRE market is still recovering from the disruption of the pandemic, Vargas said reliable on-site charging is one way commercial buildings, whether office or residential, can attract new tenants. It also benefits the state’s businesses and residents.
“We are very proud to be in California,” Vargas said. “This is where Chargie was born and bred, and helping our own communities to continue to embrace zero-emission vehicles is part of our DNA.”
This article was produced in collaboration between Chargie and Studio B. Bisnow news staff was not involved in the production of this content.
Studio B is Bisnow’s in-house content and design studio. To learn more about how Studio B can help your team, reach out to studio@bisnow.com.
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