Electric Vehicle Drivers Can Get a Charge at Levi’s Stadium

New electric vehicle charging stations opened this week at a Santa Clara multi-story parking structure directly across from the main entrance of Levi’s Stadium.

The 49 stations, including a DC fast charger, were funded through about $599,000 in grants from the California Energy Commission, allowing San Francisco 49ers fans to get a charge while they’re at a game. Levi’s Stadium hosts about 20 major events and attracts 1.2 million visitors annually. A ribbon cutting ceremony for the project was held Wednesday.



The parking structure, which the city of Santa Clara owns, is also within walking distance to California’s Great America theme park and the Santa Clara Convention Center.

Forty-nine plug-in-electric vehicles will be able to charge simultaneously and includes solar photovoltaic panels with storage energy systems to support the chargers. The city and Silicon Valley Power, the city’s municipal electricity utility, manage the parking structure.

Fast chargers allow vehicles to fully charge in 20 to 30 minutes. The others are Level 2 chargers, which will allow most vehicles to go from zero to full charge in four to eight hours.

The Energy Commission has funded electric vehicle chargers at Angel Stadium in Anaheim and recently approved funding for 102 electric vehicle chargers along Interstate 5, U.S. Route 101 and State Route 99.

The chargers, which are funded through the Energy Commission’s Alternative and Renewable Fuel and Vehicle Technology Program, supports Governor Edmund Brown Jr.’s goal to have 1.5 million zero-emission vehicles on California roads by 2025.

The state’s transportation system is responsible for 37 percent of California’s greenhouse gases, which are warming the earth to unsustainable levels. The Energy Commission is striving to transition the state from vehicles that operate on fossil fuels to ones that run on alternative energy such as electricity.