The Los Angeles Board of Water and Power Commissioners on Tuesday approved expanded and improved electric vehicle (EV) charger rebates for home, workplace and public charging through the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power program: "Charge Up LA! - Home, Work, and On the Go."

The program will provide rebates for LADWP residential and commercial customers who install Level 2 chargers (240 Volt) in their home or business in LADWP's service area, which includes the City of L.A. and parts of the Owens Valley.

Level 2 EV chargers are three to five times faster than Level 1 chargers (120 Volt). Faster charging results in additional zero-emission mileage and greater convenience for EV customers.

"Our new rebate program builds on the success of our initial EV charger rebate program, which resulted in over 500 residential charger installations in Los Angeles," said LADWP General Manager Ron Nichols.

"These significant rebates for our residential and business customers show our strong commitment to supporting electric vehicles. When our customers charge their EVs overnight at their homes, they will be doing so when LADWP's renewable wind resources are typically at their peak, resulting in a truly zero-emission transportation solution."

"LADWP is committed to supporting the development of the necessary, critical infrastructure for successful deployment and use of EVs by our customers," said Aram Benyamin, Senior Assistant General Manager, Power System.

"We've evaluated our initial program and have tailored our new program to meet the specific needs of many more of our customers."

LADWP's "Charge Up LA!" program supports EV infrastructure in several ways:

Home Charging: residential customers who purchase an EV are eligible for a $750 rebate when they purchase and install a wall-mounted charger. The requirement to install metering under the previous program has also been removed for customer convenience.

Customers who choose to install a separate Time-of-Use meter for their EV charger to take advantage of the LADWP off-peak EV discount rate will receive an additional $250 credit on their LADWP bill. This will provide many months of cost-free driving and provides valuable information to LADWP on time-of-day EV charging.

Workplace Charging: commercial rebates are targeted toward Los Angeles businesses with 250 employees at a work site required to comply with the Rideshare Program - Rule 2202, of the Southern California Air Quality Management District Up to $750 is available for each wall mounted charger and $1000 for pedestal-type chargers.

A commercial customer that qualifies for 20 chargers (the maximum under the program) may exchange the Level 2 charger rebate for a DC Fast Charger (Direct Current of up to 440 Volts). These chargers can typically charge an EV in 20 to 30 minutes for vehicles equipped for this type of charger. This option allows LADWP customers flexibility to better meet their business needs and those of their customers.

Public Charging: the new "Charge Up LA!" program will also help fill the void left by depleted federal and state EV grants. Rebates will be made available to commercial companies that place chargers in public places. The rebate amounts are the same as the Workplace charging rebates.

This component of the program helps address the need for additional public charging, providing greater vehicle range and confidence for EV drivers who may fear running out of power. The Public Charging Rebate also has the DC Fast Charging option for those customers that qualify for the maximum 20 chargers.

LADWP has retrofitted 140 legacy EV chargers on City property, including City Hall, the LA Convention Center, LAX, and other locations. System upgrades will continue with more planned throughout the year and well into the next. LADWP has helped commercial customers install chargers on private property. Charge up LA! Rebates can now assist them financially as well.

The previous residential EV Charging rebate program was limited to residential customers and was offered from May 1, 2011 to June 30, 2013. This program provided $1.03 million in rebates to install 548 residential chargers.

Approximately half of this rebate was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy as part of the LADWP Smart Grid Demonstration Program. The newly expanded rebate program will run from August 1, 2013 to June 30, 2015 with a program goal of 2,000 rebates. The new rebates are available to both residential and commercial customers on a first-come first-served basis until funds are exhausted or the program date ends.