California’s new building codes will require EV chargers in most new overnight parking spots starting in 2026, going a big way towards solving the only actual problem with EVs.

One of the main benefits of an electric vehicle is in the convenience of owning and charging the car. Instead of having to go out of your way to fuel it, you just park it at home, in the same place it spends at least 8 hours a day, and you leave the house every day with a full charge.

But this benefit only applies to those with a consistent parking space which they can easily install charging at – like a garage or a driveway, or perhaps a charger at work. When talking about owners who live in apartment buildings, it can sometimes get more complicated.

While certain states have passed “right to charge” laws to give apartment-dwellers a solution for home charging, apartment charging is nevertheless a bit of a patchwork solution so far.

But in California a fix is about to come, in the form of new building codes with sweeping EV charging requirements, ensuring that a huge percentage of new parking spots in California will have to be ready for EV charging.

New building codes mean huge increase in charging points

California building codes already required a lesser percentage of units to be “EV ready,” depending on the size of the development. But now, the new rules require at least one charger per unit, in most cases.

For any new unit with a parking space in a multi-family development (apartments/condos), at least one of the parking spots must be “EV Ready.” An EV Ready space is defined as having at least a 240V/20A outlet or charger for EV charging, either with a standardized outlet (NEMA 6-20, 14-30 or 14-50) or a J1772 or J3400 (NACS) charger.

However, EV ready spaces are allowed to share power between them, as we saw in one recent condo project we highlighted, as long as the system can provide a minimum of 3.3kW simultaneously to each unit. That project happened with a final cost of $405/space, though that was after a $2k/space incentive from the utility – still, quite cheap to wire up an entire apartment complex.

If the parking space is the unit’s own space, the new rules say it should be on a separate circuit wired to that unit’s electrical panel “when feasible” (a phrase that will likely do some heavy lifting in power-sharing situations). If the space is shared, then at least one EV ready space needs to exist per unit. If there are more parking spaces than there are units, at least 25% of the excess need to be EV ready (and there are options for individual cities to increase this requirement).

But the rules go on from there – beyond multi-family developments, they also apply to hotels. A new hotel or motel must have 65% EV-ready parking spaces, with an option for cities to increase that requirement to 100%.

Even non-residential parking lots have new EV requirements. 20% of spaces in any commercial, office or retail lot must be EV ready, with an option for cities to increase the requirement to 30% or 45%. In these cases though, property owners can install DC fast charging to get “extra credit” and reduce the number of lower-powered spaces required.

Presumably, this will incentivize an increase in the number of public DC charging spaces, which should make DC charging on the road just that much easier (even though it’s already pretty easy in California).

Finally, the rules don’t just apply to entirely new developments, but to any added parking on an existing development. Any time a parking space is added or altered in a way that requires a building permit, that space must be EV ready.

This last point is important – not only do new developments get covered by the codes, but we’ll gradually see older developments having to add EV charging as time goes on and they make renovations or improvements. This includes new solar canopy parking projects, which are required to add chargers, but doesn’t include retrofits of existing parking lots that add level 1 charging – they’re exempted from the minimum 240v/20a/3.3kW service requirements.

A positive reaction from advocacy groups

We spoke to a number of organizations about these changes, and everyone seems quite happy. Peninsula Clean Energy, a utility in the SF Bay Area, said the new rules are a “HUGE win,” highlighting how the success of local building codes (like Bay Area Reach Codes) helped push the state to ramp up from its previous incremental approach in setting regulations.

PCE highlighted that the “advocacy community” pushed hard for these regulations – namely, the EV Charging for All Coalition, who were the first to bring this news to our attention. EVCAC consists of EV advocates and environmental organizations who realized that building codes were a relatively underfocused area where a lot of progress could be made, and started pushing the state to accelerate improvement of its codes.

We talked to Sven Thesen, one of EVCAC’s co-founders, who highlighted that a “small group of dedicated individuals” were able to stand up against the glacial pace of change and resistance from the building industry “to get something much faster out there that needed to be out there. And it’s a win-win for everybody.”

Thesen highlighted that while this is a strong goal, it’s not excessive – the focus was on right-sizing installations, allowing for lower-power Level 2, power-sharing, and Level 1 retrofits to ensure that everyone has a charging option, but that systems aren’t oversized.

The new rules were finalized in a unanimous vote Tuesday, and will go into effect at the start of 2026 – just over a year away. And all of this can’t come soon enough – given that California also wants to ensure that all new cars have a plug as early as 2035, building codes like these need to be in place ahead of time so there’s time for them to percolate through the housing stock and make sure those EVs will have a place to charge.

Electrek’s Take

I’ve long said that charging for people who don’t own their own parking space is the only real problem with EVs. The last time I said it was in the story of a condo complex that covered all of its parking spots with charging.

In that story, I said “and, frankly, we also need legislation/building codes to hop in and require this sort of thing.” And here we are, two weeks later, and I got exactly what I asked for. Well ain’t that just a Merry freakin’ Christmas!

One note on cost: while I’m rarely sympathetic to the desires of big residential developers, who seem pathologically opposed to any sort of minimum guidelines for construction and always looking to cut corners (often putting them at odds with the state of California), it is true that California is an expensive place to build, and that’s not a problem we want to contribute more to.

But what’s great about these codes is that while they do require minimum standards, they seem open to allowing some flexibility on feasibility. A strict requirement of a certain amount of power per unit, each set up on a separate circuit, would likely still be a drop in the bucket for new developments in already-expensive California – but making lower-power installations possible, especially for existing developments without triggering new-build requirements, is a great middle ground.

So I’m in agreement with Thesen from the EVCAC that these codes strike the right balance of ensuring minimum standards for EV charging while also keeping costs reasonable and not unduly burdening multi-family developments – which are something that California desperately needs. There’s a lot of low-density, car-dependent areas in California, and we don’t want to make it too hard to build higher density neighborhoods, so we can hopefully start working towards more walkability and less car dependence.

But the codes also include some measures to help in that respect – by adjusting requirements for bicycle parking. Instead of basing bike rack requirements on motor vehicle traffic, the rules now base them on square footage, which helps to decouple these rules from their current car-centric mentality. It also eliminates an exception which allowed developments to get out of offering bike parking.

Between these two moves, it should go a long way towards solving the one real problem with EVs.

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Ford is struggling to stay afloat in Europe. The company is restructuring its business overseas with plans to drastically reduce its workforce. With slowing orders and weak demand for its EVs, many doubt Ford’s future in the region. A new survey underlines “how strong the doubts about Ford’s future viability in the European car market” are.

Why skepticism over Ford’s future in Europe is spreading

Last month, Ford announced plans to cut another 4,000 European jobs by 2027. The lower headcount is part of the company’s restructuring plans in the region.

Ford has incurred “significant losses” over the past few years in Europe as the “highly disruptive” market shifts to electric. The American automaker blamed the job cuts on lower-than-expected demand for EVs and a weakening economy.

Ford said the planned cuts will mainly affect Germany, while other European markets will see “minimal reductions. “

According to a new survey, skepticism about Ford’s future in Europe is rising. The study from Berlin-based Civey for Automobilwoche shows that nearly half (45%) of respondents expect poor results. Only 5% were “rather optimistic,” while another 37% were undecided.

“The results of the survey underline how strong the doubts are about Ford’s future viability on the European car market,” Civey’s Lead Customer Success Manager, Christian Riedl, explained.

Riedl said the widespread skepticism is partly due to Ford’s EV strategy, or lack thereof. Civey’s expert added, “Specially with regard to electromobility and innovation, many expect Ford to take clear steps to position itself for the future.”

According to Riedl, the large number of undecided “offers the brand the opportunity to strengthen its position. ” However, that will require “a convincing vision and visible progress.”

After the first Capri EV model rolled off the assembly line at its Cologne plant in July, Ford is already slowing production. The company is reducing output of its two EV models based on Volkswagen’s MEB platform, the Electric Explorer and Capri.

Earlier this month, Ford introduced the all-electric version of its best-selling vehicle in Europe, the Puma Gen-E, as it looks to boost demand.

Electrek’s Take

Ford is facing stiff competition from Chinese EV makers like BYD, which continues to gain ground. A recent Bloomberg study pointed out BYD is quickly closing in on Ford in global deliveries. The Chinese EV leader could even surpass the American automaker by the end of the year.

BYD’s cheapest EV, the Seagull, was the best-selling vehicle (including gas-powered cars) in China again last month, beating out Tesla’s Model Y.

With a wave of new low-cost EVs arriving in China, BYD and other EV makers are looking overseas for growth. The influx of Chinese electric cars is pressuring global auto leaders to take drastic measures.

A new Nikkei report on Tuesday claimed Honda and Nissan are closing in on an EV merger to survive the transition. Which automaker will be next? Could Ford team up with another European partner or expand ties with VW? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

Stellantis has announced that it is pushing ahead the launch of its range-extended Ram 1500 Ramcharger before the release of the Ram 1500 REV, the automaker’s first BEV light-duty pickup truck. The Ram brand originally planned to launch the Ram 1500 BEV in the first half of 2025.

Stellantis says the decision to push back on the EV launch was “driven by overwhelming consumer interest, maintaining a competitive advantage in the technology and slowing industry demand for half-ton BEV pickups,” the company said in a press release.

The new Ramcharger will be open for consumer orders in the first half of 2025 followed by the Ram 1500 REV (Revolution battery-electric vehicle) launch in 2026.

The Ramcharger is a battery-powered plug-in but also has a gas engine as a generator to charge the battery on the go, with a targeted range of up to 690 miles. The 2025 Ram 1500 Ramcharger features a 92 kilowatt-hour battery pack, paired with an onboard 130 kW generator, sending power to 250 kW front and 238 kW rear electric drive modules (EDMs).

Vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-home bi-directional charging allows the Ram 1500 Ramcharger to charge another BEV or provide power back to the grid. Performance figures include a 0-60 mph time of 4.4 seconds, 663 horsepower and over 615 lb.-ft. of torque, up to a best-in-class 14,000 pounds towing with a class 5 hitch and a best-in-class maximum payload capacity of 2,625 pounds.

Extended-range EVs, or EREVs, have become a siren call to automakers struggling to reach buyers with pure electric vehicles, serving as a sort of middle ground between kind of an electric car but also a plug-in hybrid, helping to break through to drivers still worried about getting stranded with no charge. 

Earlier this month, news hits that Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares was stepping down, after a series of missteps in the US involving bloating inventories of Jeep, Chrysler, Ram, and Dodge vehicles sitting in factories or dealer parking lots, which sparked scathing criticisms from dealers. Vehicle deliveries fell by 18% in North America in the first half of the year, with market share dropping from 10% to 8.2%, according to Reuters. Also, Stellantis was slow to lower vehicle prices in the face of tough competition from GM and Ford, with analysts saying vehicle prices were too high for core customers of those brands.

Still, Stellantis delaying its BEV risks putting the company even further behind rivals including Tesla Cybertruck, Chevy Silverado, and Ford F-150 Lightning.

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