The Oklahoma Corporation Commission is moving ahead with rulemaking to cover the growing number of electric vehicle chargers in the state.
A technical conference is planned for Wednesday morning at 9:30 by the Public Utilities Division of the Commission at which Corporation Commissioners might attend but no vote will be taken on the proposed new rules and regulations.
A filing in response to the rulemaking by Electrify America LLC, Tesla, Inc. and Francis Energy of Tulsa suggested that in order to provide the infrastructure necessary to support Oklahoma’s share of the U.S. EV targets by 2030, an estimated 26,000 public EV charging stations will need to be installed in the state.
The three firms said it will include nearly 2,000 DC charging stations, which convert AC before it reaches the vehicle and instead deliver direct current directly to the battery of an electric vehicle.
The trio indicated the Commission can assume that by January 1 of 2024, Oklahoma will have about 10% of the charging stations needed by 2030. They estimate about 2,600 charging stations in Oklahoma will be installed including 200 fast DC charging stations and 2,400 AC charging stations.
Francis Energy, formed in 2015 is reported to be the fourth largest owner and operator of DC fast charging stations in the U.S. It also has installed nearly half of the public electric charging stations in Oklahoma encompassing more than 540 DCFC ports across 118 locations. Oklahoma has an estimated 282 public EV charging stations and DC fast charging stations account for about 159 of them.
One complaint from the three EV firms is the estimated costs of retrofitting existing stations to comply with part of the proposed regulations. The firms say it would cost nearly $4 million to retrofit the nearly 200 DC chargers that will be in Oklahoma at the beginning of 2024. Retrofitting the 120 public AC chargers currently installed would cost another $540,000.
