Ava Opens New Electric Vehicle Charging Station

Ava is getting into the electric vehicle fast-charging business. With the launch of the Ava Charge program, Ava is rolling out a network of high-speed charging stations that will make it easier to drive an EV in the Bay Area.

“We are trying to bend the EV adoption curve upward,” says V Gerber, Product Manager for DC Fast Charging at Ava. 

“A large share of pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions in our service area come from gasoline-powered vehicles,” says Gerber. “And we know from research that access to fast, reliable charging is key to EV adoption, especially for the 40% of our customers who live in multi-family housing.”

The first Ava Charge station had a grand opening on November 19, 2025, at City Center West Garage in downtown Oakland. Equipped with 18 dispensers and 31 fast charging plugs, it is the largest non-Tesla public fast charging station in Northern California. The station can charge any type of electric vehicle with 100% renewable energy. (It has all three types of plugs: CCS1, CHAdeMO, and NACS.)

The station’s direct current (DC) fast chargers put out up to 320 kilowatts (kW) of power, which can add 100 miles of driving range in as little as ten minutes, depending on the car. While many EV owners charge their cars at home, having a quick way to charge in public is helpful for people without home charging, or for anyone away from home. The Oakland location can serve workers parked downtown for the day, shoppers, rideshare drivers, and residents of the many nearby apartment buildings.

“We want to be part of the solution to make clean-powered transportation more accessible to everyone, so we are building charging stations in locations that have been underserved,” said CEO Howard Chang at the ribbon-cutting ceremony. “We know that for renters, where home charging may be difficult or even impossible, building fast charging stations closer to them helps to start slowly breaking down barriers to EV adoption and begins to create greater equity and accessibility in EV usage.”

Oakland City Councilmember Rowena Brown, who serves on the Ava Board of Directors, added, “This project reflects the city’s commitment to advancing equitable climate solutions and ensuring all residents are considered in the transition to clean energy.”

Ava has been doing market research on what EV drivers want from public charging. “The most important things are reliability, convenience, transparent pricing, and being in locations where people are already going,” Gerber says. “We want to use our role as a community energy provider to focus on what our customers want, and deliver it in a way that prioritizes their needs.”

So far, that focus on customer needs has paid off. As of January, Ava Charge had seen 1,249 charging sessions, delivering 41,645 kWh for a total of 43,800 charging minutes (equivalent to 30 straight days of fast charging).

In environmental terms, that impact equates to 27.2 tons of CO2 avoided and 3,061 gallons of gas not used.

One Oakland resident, while plugging in, said, “This has become my go-to station. I work nearby and don’t have a charger at home, so this has been really convenient for me.”

Gerber adds, “Public charging has historically not been very reliable, and we need more quantity and geographic distribution. A better public charging experience will support our goal of supporting more EV adoption, that’s why Ava Charge is strategically working to fill in infrastructure gaps with convenient and reliable fast charging hubs where folks live, work, and gather.”

Up to 14 more Ava Charge stations are planned across Ava’s service area, including in Piedmont, Livermore, and more. Ava is also encouraging EV owners who charge at home to reduce the strain on the power grid. Ava’s SmartHome Charging program has enrolled over 2,400 drivers, rewarding them for charging their cars in off-peak hours, which lowers costs and increases the use of renewable energy.

In a separate arrangement, the City of Oakland is working with FlashParking of Austin, Texas, to deploy 244 slower Level 2 chargers at eight parking locations in downtown Oakland. The project was awarded a $5.8 million grant from the State’s Clean Transportation Program in May 2024.

Alameda County has 1,078 DC fast charger ports available to the public as of September 2025, according to state figures, with an additional 7,000 slower Level 2 charging ports. San Joaquin County has 286 fast charging ports and 959 Level 2 ports available. Los Angeles County leads statewide, with 3,775 fast charger ports and over 81,000 Level 2. Altogether, the State is home to over 83,000 public ports and 118,000 shared private ports (such as at offices and apartments). This number has doubled since 2022 and is 48% more than the number of gasoline nozzles in the state.

The California Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Project (CALeVIP), the nation’s largest EV charging incentive initiative, has incentivized over 10,000 EV charging ports statewide with $180 million in issued or reserved funding. Ava contributed match funding to our local CALeVIP initiative, the Alameda County Incentive Project. Another state program, Communities In Charge, focuses on Level 2 chargers in public locations.

“Our goal is to build a healthier environment by expanding access to clean, affordable energy through more electric transportation,” says Chang. “Ava Charge is just one step in our overall plan to make the transition to carbon-free energy easier for all.”