CPUC rules that all EVSEs need approval

The main point of this document:
http://docs.cpuc.ca.gov/WORD_PDF/FINAL_DECISION/121450.PDF
"D1007044 in Phase 1 on Whether a Corporation or Person that Sells Electric Vehicle Charging Services to the Public is a Public Utility"

is to find whether or not a public EVSE provider is a "Public Utility". The CPUC finds No:
"finding that selling electric vehicle charging services does not make an entity a
public utility."

There are, however, other interesting statements in the decision:

An existing utility customer that installs electric vehicle service
equipment is also required to notify the utility. Failure to
follow these rules could result in the electric vehicle service
provider’s service being disconnected. This is a significant
source of Commission authority to address the impacts of
electric vehicle charging on electrical infrastructure.

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Note that no distinction is made here between temporary (120v portable) EVSE and hardwired installations! Yikes.

Some parties commented on the need for additional consumer protection
oversight of the retail sale of electricity as a motor vehicle fuel. Currently, the
sale of “motor fuel,” as governed by the Bus. & Prof. Code, does not include the
retail sale of electricity used for motor vehicle fuel.

...
This is an area that may require review by the Legislature to expand, if
necessary, those protections governing “motor fuel” to include electricity.

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This will be a concern if public for-fee L2 chargers are not honest about the amount of power they provide (meter accuracy), or transparency in the charge structure, or other things we take for granted for fuel.

And, no apparent different rules for commercial vs. residential EVSEs.

If I use a battery charger on my ICE do I need to notify the PU?

But, if I use an "extension cord" to a car with a built-in charger, I do?

Or, only if it is an EV?

Does that include charging the 12v battery in my Prius?

They're not playing word games -- read the ruling.
(BEV and PHEV)

EVSE.

Like garygid said, residential (garage), commercial L2 for employees, and other "non-public" chargers are all in the same ruling as public fee-based chargers.

Says "installs" EVSE ..., so maybe plugging in (like use of Nissan's L1 EVSE) is not "install"?

Or, using a movable plugin L2 EVSE might not be an "install"?

And they want to know where you are before you plug in:

SDG&E is working together with the other California investor-owned and publically-owned utilities to explore the
creation of a data clearinghouse that would provide a secure and confidential notification system
regarding customer-locations specific data to utilities when a customer purchases or registers a
PEV in California.

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However, but the Registered address is usually the owner's address, and that might not be the "garage" or "user's" address.

I take my plug-in EVSE and L2 (or L1) charge at work, a client's location, a friend's house, or at a relative's house.

They're not going to enforce this, it would be practically impossible
But if every EV owner simply charges at night time whenever practical, the grid could easily withstand many thousands of new EVs using just the surplus energy generated at night which is largely renewable Those who are so concerned about electric vehicles disrupting the electrical grids (such as the CPUC) fail to recognize that most EV charging is likely to happen at off-peak hours.

1. If you have to recharge at work to make it home, or because it is "free" electricity, that will generally NOT be late night / early AM charging.

2. But, to plan well for loads, rather than "react" to overloaded equipment, I suspect that the PUs are saying they "need" the EV charging info. It that were really true, they would need the power used (1.4, 3.3, 6.6, 50, or 150 kW) by each charging station and the expected (or possible) usage times and duty cycles. But, they can at least start to become EV-aware, sort of like becoming (very slowly) PV-aware.

garygid said:

2. But, to plan well for loads, rather than "react" to overloaded equipment, I suspect that the PUs are saying they "need" the EV charging info. It that were really true, they would need the power used (1.4, 3.3, 6.6, 50, or 150 kW) by each charging station and the expected (or possible) usage times and duty cycles.

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With such information they could make more exact usage (kWh) and demand (kW) estimates. But I'm sure they can plug in some average numbers, based on normal driving patterens and 30A/7.2kW L2 EVSE (I'm guessing they expect this to be the norm, although it would cause them to slightly overbuild for the LEAF's 3.3kW charger). This will likely get them "good enough" numbers for planning purposes.

Well a neighborhood transformer might need to be upgraded for fast-charging 4 Teslas, but not for slow-charging 4 Volts.

garygid said:

Well a neighborhood transformer might need to be upgraded for fast-charging 4 Teslas, but not for slow-charging 4 Volts.

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How many neighborhoods have 4 Teslas? Probably a low enough number (if any) that this could be handled case-by-case bassis. I think they're looking for information that will help them get a handle on the "big picture".

According to the "letter" that I (think I) got from SDG&E, they also wanted the "small picture" to better judge when to replace neighborhood transformers, or so they said.

They wanted to know "will be getting EV" info, not "have just gotten EV" info. They were trying to plan AHEAD, it seemed.

garygid said:

According to the "letter" that I (think I) got from SDG&E, they also wanted the "small picture" to better judge when to replace neighborhood transformers, or so they said.

They wanted to know "will be getting EV" info, not "have just gotten EV" info. They were trying to plan AHEAD, it seemed.

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Right, they will just plug in the average 30A demand and some average daily usage kWh numbers, which will work fine in the majority of cases, because some will use less and some will use more so it will average out. They probably use conservative numbers for planning to give them some excess capacity. Then, after they acually have some experience (maybe a year or two), they'll refine those numbers, if necessary. Remember, they see actual usage and demand in the normal monthly billing cycle, so it's likely they can stay ahead of things fairly easily.