Want to charge your electric car at work? Some California departments say ‘no.’ Here’s why

If you work for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, and you own an electric car, it turns out you’re not allowed to charge it using one of those EV charging stations at your office.

The state’s purveyor of fishing and hunting licenses sent a memo to its employees earlier this month instructing workers to only use state-owned chargers for state-owned vehicles.

Employees are also not allowed to use power outlets to plug in their personal vehicles. Supervisors and managers are expected to ensure that their personnel comply with the mandate.

“CDFW employees found to be in violation of this direction may be subject to disciplinary action,” reads the Oct. 12 memo, which was obtained via a California Public Records Act request.

The order appears at odds with California’s, and Gov. Gavin Newsom’s, ambitious goals to put more electric vehicles on the road and construct more fast chargers. Workplace charging will likely be crucial to making electric vehicles accessible to Californians, particularly those who aren’t able to install chargers at home.

The CDFW memo said the instruction was handed down from the state’s Department of General Services. DGS, when asked, said the Americans with Disabilities Act essentially tied departments’ hands.

The federal Department of Energy outlines guidelines for “workplace charging” stations, including a requirement that a certain number of chargers be ADA accessible. California adopted building code regulations in 2016 with even stricter regulations for ADA-compliant charging stations.

If a department’s charging stations aren’t ADA accessible, then they can be held liable and potentially sued for ADA violations, according to Monica Hassan, deputy director for public affairs at DGS. Chargers that do not have adequate wheelchair access are denoted as “fleet” chargers and are meant only for use with state-owned vehicles. Some departments only have the latter, Hassan wrote in an email.

DGS to date has installed 1,556 “workplace” charging ports and 1,546 “fleet” charging ports at state facilities, according to Hassan.

“‘Workplace charging’ is designed to meet ADA compliance and is permitted as such, and state employees are encouraged to use these chargers for their personal vehicles,” she wrote.

The CDFW memo also said the department will prevent unauthorized use of the chargers by purchasing and installing “hardware” to restrict access to only certain users. Hassan explained that CDFW has requested that DGS purchase radio-frequency identification or “RFID” cards so only credentialed users can access the chargers. The department would also then be able to track each person’s usage statistics.

It’s unclear how departments could police card sharing between workers.

An earlier version of the CDFW memo, sent Sept. 22, incorrectly states that the use of state-owned chargers for personal use would violate California’s constitutional ban on gifting state funds. However, a law passed in 2014 made a special exemption for electricity that’s used to charge an electric vehicle.

This story was originally published October 24, 2023 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Want to charge your electric car at work? Some California departments say ‘no.’ Here’s why."