STORY BY HAL SAGA, CO-EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
The North Orange County Community College District recently approved a resolution allowing for the installation of 60 electrical vehicle chargers in Cypress College’s parking lots.
The resolution was approved on Aug. 22 which grants the Southern California Edison Company access to Cypress College’s parking lots for “the purpose of providing electrical power to the vehicle charging stations,” according to the NOCCCD’s agenda.
As of now, the Director of Campus Communications, Marc S. Posner, confirmed in an email to the Cypress Chronicle that there are no EV chargers on campus. The nearest chargers to the college within the city are at Blink on Holder Street, Home Depot on Lincoln Avenue, and EVgo on Valley View Street.
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory reported that there were around 903,620 light-duty electric registrations in California by 2022. Out of all the EVs registered in that same year, California made up around 37% of vehicles in the United States.
According to a 2023 study from Coltura, 4% of the cars driven in Orange County were electric; in another study from Coltura, the registrations for EVs in Orange County rose from 47% from 2021 to 2022.
Car retail website Bumper found that in Orange County, there was an estimated number of 11.8 EV chargers for every 10,000 residents.
Cypress College’s sister school, Fullerton College, implemented 6 EV chargers in 2016; as of 2022, there were now a total of 50 EV charging ports, according to the Fullerton College News Center.
More charging ports are being installed in California due to Governor Gavin Newsom’s executive order requiring all new car sales be emission-free by 2035 to prevent further contribution to climate change caused by fossil fuels used in gasoline.
SCEC is set to provide electrical power to an unnamed parking lot on Cypress College after construction to electrical supply system among other underground and overground issues.
It is unknown when construction will begin and end.
