Since 2015, the State of California has prioritized the deployment of electric vehicles to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In March 2025, the governor’s office announced that the number of electric vehicle charging stations in California had more than doubled since 2022. There are now about 48% more EV charging ports in the state (178,000) than gasoline nozzles (120,000). But this change is coming very slowly to rural areas, including Plumas County.
A large-scale initiative
The Plumas County Transportation Commission has an EV master plan for the county under development, said Plumas County Public Works Director Rob Thorman. It is expected to be completed in June 2027. Transportation consultants Kittelson & Associates are developing the grant-funded plan, which will inventory all existing public and private charging locations and identify needs and potential locations for more of them.
The U.S. Department of Transportation recognizes the need for more EV charging stations in rural areas of the country, home to 20% of Americans and 70% of the country’s lane miles. Rural residents drive more than their urban counterparts and spend more on vehicle fuel and maintenance, making EVs a potentially attractive option, according to the agency. Improving rural access to EV charging infrastructure is also a central goal of the Western Governors’ Association’s Electric Vehicles Roadmap Initiative.
To help address the need for more charging facilities statewide, two California laws, AB 1236 and AB 970, require cities and counties to develop a streamlined process for approval of new charging station construction. The laws limit the application review process to health and safety concerns only. They require that applications for up to 25 stations at a single site be reviewed for completeness within five business days, and that an approval decision be made within 20 business days.
To track the progress of local jurisdictions in meeting the permit streamlining requirements, the state maintains a scorecard and map. Most of the state appears in green on the map, where the EVCS permitting process is streamlined and legally compliant. There are a few red areas where the process is not yet streamlined. Plumas County appears in yellow on the map, indicating that EVCS permit streamlining here is “in progress or partially complete.”
Local charging stations
So far there are only a handful of charging options for local EV owners and tourists. The EV Range Charging Station, located at 150 Commercial St. in Portola, is open 24 hours and has eight Level 2 charging ports with 50 KWh per hour capability.
Dame Shirley Plaza in Quincy has four charging ports waiting to be connected to power by Pacific Gas & Electric Co. Thorman expects that to happen sometime in May.
The Antlers Inn, at 188 Willow Way in Chester, has four charging stations with reserved parking spaces. A grant from PG&E covered most of the cost of installation, said owner Mark Lilley. He reported these are the first “official” charging stations in the Chester area, and noted that the stations were busy over Memorial Day weekend. “<Saturday, May 24> we had four cars charging and one waiting, so the demand is certainly there,” said Lilley.
The Chester chargers are Level 2, meaning they can charge a fully electric vehicle from empty to 80% in 4-10 hours or a plug-in hybrid vehicle in 1-2 hours. Charging is free to lodging guests. Others are charged what Lilley calls a “moderate rate,” which can fluctuate. Recently the rate was $0.56 per KWh
EVmatch, a commercially-available app that allows homeowners to share their home chargers with the app’s users, lists one location in the Quincy area. There are also at least two Tesla Destination Chargers in the county operated by homeowners. Other EVCS locations are listed on chargehub.com.
A complete description of vehicle and charger types, along with other information regarding EVs for consumers and planners, is available at Rural EV Toolkit on the U.S. Department of Transportation’s website.
Electric buses still years away
On Jan. 22, 2024, the Plumas County Transportation Commission approved a plan to replace Plumas Transit’s current fleet of nine diesel- and gasoline-powered buses with electric buses at some future point. The plan extends through the year 2040 and describes the infrastructure changes that will need to be made to support electric buses.
According to Thorman, a major sticking point in the plan is that there are no electric buses currently available that can be fitted with automatically-deployable snow chains. That’s a critical feature for our county’s winter driving conditions.