California approves largest ever utility program to expand EV charging

California on Thursday approved a $437 million effort to build thousands of electric vehicle chargers, its utility regulator said, calling it the nation's largest ever utility program to expand charging infrastructure.

The money will go to utility Southern California Edison to fund the installation of nearly 40,000 chargers, the California Public Utilities Commission said in a statement.

The program will help the state achieve its goal of putting 5 million zero-emissions vehicles on the road by 2030, the CPUC said.

Half of the investment must take place in low-income communities, and 30% will be dedicated to multi-family residences, where it is more difficult to charge an EV.

Southern California Edison is a unit of Edison International .