California has required EV infrastructure in new construction for years, so the headline is not that the requirement exists. The headline is that the 2025 code edition, in force across the state since January 1, 2026, meaningfully raised the bar, and that inspectors are enforcing it more strictly than they did when the rules first appeared. Developers who treated EV provisions as a checkbox in 2021 are running into correction notices in 2026. Here is what the rules require, what specifically changed, and where projects go wrong.
The three tiers in CALGreen terms
California's requirements live in two related instruments: the Title 24 Building Energy Efficiency Standards (Part 6) and CALGreen (Part 11). Together they define three escalating levels of EV provision in new construction.
- EV-capable: raceway and reserved panel capacity to a parking space, so charging can be added later. No wiring pulled.
- EV-ready: the branch circuit run and terminated at the space, ready for a charger to be mounted.
- EVSE-installed: an operational charging station actually installed and energized at the space.
A single project carries a blend: some spaces installed, some EV-ready, some EV-capable, set by a scoping table keyed to building type and parking count.
What the earlier (2022) code required
For context, the 2022 CALGreen edition (effective January 1, 2023) required new nonresidential buildings with parking to provide EV-capable spaces for a meaningful share of parking, up to roughly 30 percent of spaces in many nonresidential cases, with a smaller share required to be EV-ready or installed. New multifamily was broadly EV-capable or EV-ready depending on whether parking was assigned. The emphasis was on capability: get the conduit and capacity in, install fewer actual chargers.
What the 2025 code changed (effective January 1, 2026)
The 2025 edition shifts the emphasis from "capable" to "installed," which is the substantive change developers need to budget for.
Nonresidential scoping split by use. The nonresidential table (in the 5.106.5.3.1 series) was restructured to treat building uses differently:
- Office and retail: a much larger share of the EV spaces must be installed EVSE, on the order of roughly three-quarters of the EV-capable count, rather than left as capable-only.
- Other than office and retail: the installed share rises to roughly half of the EV-capable count, up from roughly a third under the prior approach.
The exact percentages are set in the code table and depend on parking count and use category; treat the figures here as the magnitude of the shift (as of Q2 2026) and confirm the precise cell that applies to your project against the adopted table.
Power allocation tightened. The maximum share of the site's EV power budget that may be allocated to EV-capable-only spaces was reduced (on the order of from 50 percent down to about 25 percent). Practically, this limits how much you can lean on automatic load management to stretch a thin service across many capable spaces, and it pushes toward provisioning real capacity.
Multifamily. New multifamily must be broadly EV-ready. Where parking is assigned, the expectation runs toward a Level 2 receptacle per dwelling unit; where parking is shared or unassigned, receptacles are expected across the spaces. Confirm the exact unit-count and assignment rules for your project.
The net effect: a 2026 nonresidential project costs more to comply than the same project did under the 2022 code, because more spaces must carry pulled wire and mounted equipment rather than empty conduit, and you can allocate less of your power budget to capability-only.
What enforcement looks like in practice
Inspectors verifying EV compliance check for:
- A panel schedule showing dedicated, correctly sized capacity for the EV circuits
- Conduit installed per the design drawings, at the right size and routing
- Junction boxes, receptacles, or stub-outs at the marked EV spaces, matching the required tier
- For installed-EVSE counts, actual energized equipment, not a promise to add it later
- Required signage and space marking
Early enforcement (the 2020 to 2022 window) was uneven; inspectors were learning the requirements alongside builders. That has changed. EV compliance is now a standard checklist item, inspectors know what to look for, and the higher 2025 installed-share requirements give them more concrete items to fail. Projects that under-provision, or that try to satisfy an installed-EVSE requirement with capable-only conduit, are encountering correction notices and delayed certificates of occupancy. The cost of those delays usually dwarfs the cost of building it right the first time.
Don't confuse code with accessibility or incentives
Two adjacent topics get tangled with Title 24 and shouldn't be:
- Accessibility is separate. California's EV-charging accessibility rules live in Chapter 11B of the Building Code, and they impose their own scoping and dimensional requirements on accessible charging spaces. Meeting the Title 24 EV count does not satisfy Chapter 11B, and vice versa. You must satisfy both. See the ADA requirements article.
- Incentives are separate. Programs like CALeVIP and utility make-ready can fund charging, but qualifying for a rebate is not the same as meeting code, and meeting code does not earn a rebate. Code is the floor; incentives reward going beyond it.
What developers should do
- Design to the 2025 table from the start. Any project permitted in 2026 is under the new edition. Pull the exact cell for your building use and parking count early.
- Budget for installed EVSE, not just conduit. The shift from capable to installed is the main cost change; pricing it as a 2022-era capable-heavy build will come up short.
- Right-size the service for the reduced power-allocation flexibility. With less budget allowable for capable-only spaces, plan real capacity.
- Coordinate Title 24 and Chapter 11B together so accessible charging spaces satisfy both the EV count and the accessibility code.
- Document everything in the permit set; the drawings and inspection records are your compliance evidence.
The national context
California's Title 24 approach is the template other states adapt, and the federal direction is toward broader and stricter requirements rather than looser ones. A developer who builds to the 2025 California standard anywhere is generally ahead of where most other jurisdictions' codes are heading, which makes the California approach a reasonable design hedge even outside California. The expensive moment is always the retrofit, and the 2025 code is a reminder that the minimum keeps moving up.
Last factually verified: 2026-05-24 against California Energy Commission and CALGreen 2025 code summaries and guidance materials (including the restructured nonresidential Table 5.106.5.3.1 and the reduced EV-capable power allocation), the 2022 CALGreen nonresidential EV provisions, and the U.S. DOE/PNNL EV charging code technical brief. Exact percentages vary by building use and parking count; confirm the applicable code-table cell with your AHJ.
