Senate committees advance bill requiring new buildings to be EV-charger ready with narrow amendments

Senate committees on Energy, Intergovernmental Affairs and Government Operations advanced House Bill 344, HD1, on March 18, directing new building designs to include electric vehicle (EV) charger-ready parking stalls and adopting two technical amendments from the Hawaii State Energy Office.

The bill and amendments were intended to ensure that both structured parking and on-grade (surface) lots are covered and to add language permitting level 1 or level 3 chargers "when appropriate," committee members said. The joint committees voted to pass the measure with those amendments.

Why it matters: The measure would require new construction to be built with the electrical and conduit infrastructure needed to add EV chargers later, a change advocates say reduces retrofit costs and speeds deployment as EV…