The California Air Resources Board (CARB) requires that all publicly accessible Level 2 EV charging stations installed in California on or after July 1, 2023, have an EMV chip reader to accept credit card chip payments as well as an NFC reader to accept contactless or mobile payments.

All publicly accessible DC fast charging stations installed on or after January 1, 2022, require an EMV chip reader.

If stations in California are visible to all drivers in the ChargePoint app and available for any driver to use, they are considered publicly accessible and must have a chip reader.

Stations that are limited to use by certain groups, such as customers, employees or residents, do not need to have a chip reader. ChargePoint enables organizations to limit stations to certain users using access control and Connections in the ChargePoint app. These stations will require physical signage to indicate that they are restricted to certain users. For example, a sign could say “Charging for employees only. Not for public use.”

An EMV chip reader can process the chip in credit cards to accept payment. All ChargePoint stations support contactless payments through NFC, and drivers can also pay for charging with the ChargePoint app. ChargePoint offers  AC and DC stations with an EMV chip reader option for sale in California.

This EMV chip reader requirement goes into effect on July 1, 2023, for Level 2 AC charging stations in California. The chip reader requirement went into effect on January 1, 2022, for DC fast charging stations.

ChargePoint offers DC fast charging stations and the CP6000 Level 2 AC charging station with an option to meet the requirement. Look for the –CHIP suffix at the end of the product SKU to see if a station has a chip reader.

ChargePoint customers in California looking to comply with this regulation can contact our support team for assistance: https://www.chargepoint.com/support