We got a call from a developer in San Jose in February—42-unit podium project, shared parking on level one, design-development drawings 80% complete, permit target April. The electrical engineer had sized the main service for typical loads but hadn't accounted for Level 2 EV charging at all 42 parking spaces. The project was eight weeks from submittal, and the panel schedule didn't have the capacity.
California's 2026 Title 24 building code went live on January 1, 2026. Every new multifamily building permitted after that date must be 100% EV-ready—not EV-capable, not EV-optional, but fully wired and receptacle-ready at every parking space. If parking is assigned, that means at least one Level 2 receptacle per residential unit. If parking is shared or unassigned, it means a receptacle at every single spot.
For that San Jose project, "100% EV-ready" meant 42 Level 2 circuits, 42 branch conduit runs, and a main panel large enough to handle the aggregate load even if every tenant plugged in at once. The developer ate a three-week re-design to upsize the service and re-route the electrical rough-in. The permit submittal slipped to May, and the construction budget picked up an extra $68,000 in panel and conduit costs that weren't in the original pro forma.
What "EV-ready" actually means
The 2026 code doesn't require installed chargers—it requires the infrastructure to support them. That means conduit, receptacles, panel capacity, and circuit protection sized for 240V Level 2 charging (typically 40 amps). The receptacle can be a simple NEMA 14-50 or 6-50 outlet; the tenant or property owner installs the actual EVSE (charging equipment) later.
But "simple" is doing a lot of work in that sentence. A 40-amp circuit at every parking space in a 60-unit building with shared parking is 2,400 amps of theoretical load. No one will plug in 60 cars at the same time, so electrical engineers apply diversity factors and demand calculations to size the service—but even with diversity, the main panel has to be larger than it would have been under the 2023 code, and the transformer or utility service may need an upgrade.
We've drafted six California multifamily projects under the 2026 standard so far this year—three in San Diego County, two in Los Angeles, one in Alameda—and every one required a main-service upsize compared to what the same building would have needed in 2025. Two projects needed utility-company coordination to confirm transformer capacity before the city would accept the electrical permit application.
Assigned vs. shared parking
The code draws a bright line between assigned and shared parking.
Assigned parking means each unit has a deeded, leased, or otherwise exclusive parking space—common in for-sale condos or higher-end rental communities. In that scenario, the building needs one Level 2 receptacle per residential unit, installed in or near each assigned space.
Shared or unassigned parking means the building has a pool of spaces that residents use on a first-come basis—typical in affordable housing, smaller apartment buildings, or urban infill projects with compact parking. In that scenario, the building needs a receptacle at every single parking space, because any space could theoretically serve a tenant with an EV.
The distinction matters because shared parking drives a higher infrastructure cost. A 48-unit building with 1:1 assigned parking needs 48 circuits. The same 48-unit building with 60 shared spaces needs 60 circuits—25% more conduit, more panel slots, and a larger service drop.
We had one Pasadena project flip from assigned to shared parking late in DD when the developer decided to pursue tax-credit financing, which required eliminating reserved spaces to meet affordability program rules. The electrical engineer had already sized the service for 52 assigned-space circuits; the switch to 68 shared-space circuits required a panel re-design and a utility service upgrade. The change added $42,000 to the electrical budget and pushed the permit submittal by two weeks while the engineer re-coordinated the single-line.
When the cost shows up
EV infrastructure isn't a construction-phase line item—it's a design-development decision that has to show up on the permit set. If your electrical engineer hasn't accounted for it by the time you submit, the plan reviewer will flag it in the first correction cycle, and you'll be re-drawing the electrical sheets while your GC is waiting to bid.
The cost breaks into three buckets:
- Design cost: Additional engineering time to calculate demand load, size the main service, lay out branch conduit, and coordinate with the utility. We're seeing electrical consultants add 8 to 12 hours per project compared to pre-2026 standards.
- Permit cost: Larger service = larger permit fees in most jurisdictions, because electrical permit fees scale with ampacity. A 1,200-amp service costs more to permit than an 800-amp service.
- Construction cost: Conduit, wire, panel slots, receptacles, and potentially a transformer or service-drop upgrade. On a 50-unit building, we're seeing EV infrastructure add $50,000 to $90,000 to the electrical budget depending on parking configuration and site conditions.
Those costs are real, but they're predictable if you plan for them early. The projects that blow budgets are the ones where EV infrastructure doesn't show up until the electrical engineer is halfway through CDs and realizes the main panel they've been drawing won't handle the load.
The AB 306 freeze
California typically updates its building code on a three-year cycle tied to the ICC publication schedule—2023 code, 2026 code, 2029 code. But AB 306, signed in 2024, placed a six-year pause on further residential code updates unless narrowly exempted. That means the 2026 Title 24 residential standards—including the 100% EV-ready parking rule—will govern new residential construction through 2031, with limited exceptions.
For multifamily developers, that's important. You're not designing to a standard that might get revised or softened in two years. You're designing to a standard that's locked in for at least five years. If you're planning a project that won't break ground until 2028 or 2029, the 2026 EV rule is still your rule.
The freeze also means the industry won't get a chance to course-correct if the 100% standard proves too costly or creates unintended consequences. Whatever issues surface over the next few years—utility capacity constraints, panel-availability bottlenecks, cost impacts on affordable housing—won't trigger a code revision until the 2032 cycle at the earliest.
That makes early coordination with electrical engineers and utilities even more critical. If your project is in feasibility or pre-development today, model the EV infrastructure cost now—don't wait until DD to find out the service you budgeted for is 40% too small.
Coastal vs. inland projects
We've noticed a split between coastal and inland California projects. Coastal cities—Santa Monica, San Francisco, San Diego—already had local EV ordinances in place before the 2026 statewide code took effect. Developers and engineers in those markets were already designing for high EV-ready percentages, so the jump to 100% was incremental.
Inland jurisdictions—Fresno, Bakersfield, Redding—didn't have strong local EV mandates, so the 2026 code represents a bigger shift. Electrical engineers in those markets are less familiar with demand-load calcs for large EV fleets, and utility companies are less accustomed to processing service-upgrade requests for multifamily EV infrastructure.
If your project is in an inland California city, budget extra time for electrical coordination and utility approvals. We had one Modesto project wait six weeks for the utility to confirm transformer capacity, which delayed the permit submittal and pushed the construction start into a higher-cost season.
What to do if you're in design now
If you're in schematic design or early DD for a California multifamily project today, here's the checklist:
- Confirm parking type: Assigned or shared? If you're not sure yet, model both scenarios so you understand the cost delta.
- Size the main service early: Don't wait until 90% CDs to run demand calcs. The main panel and service drop need to show up on the permit set, so they need to be sized and coordinated by the end of DD.
- Coordinate with the utility: If your project needs a service upgrade or a new transformer, start that conversation in DD—not during permit review.
- Budget for conduit and panel slots: EV infrastructure isn't just wire and receptacles. It's conduit runs from the main panel to every parking space, which means more labor and more material.
- Flag it in MEP coordination: Make sure your electrical engineer, civil engineer, and architect are coordinating conduit routing, panel location, and parking-space layout in the same model. A receptacle that sits three feet from the parking space because the conduit routing wasn't coordinated will fail inspection.
For projects already in permit, the plan reviewer will catch a missing EV-ready compliance during the first correction cycle. If that happens, you'll need a full electrical re-submittal—new panel schedule, new single-line, new demand calc—which typically adds two to four weeks to the permit timeline.
The long game
California's 100% EV-ready parking rule isn't a future-proofing exercise—it's current law, effective now, applicable to every multifamily permit submitted after January 1, 2026. It's not optional, it's not waivable, and it's not going away before 2032.
For developers, that means EV infrastructure is a DD-phase decision, not a value-engineering conversation during bidding. For electrical engineers, it means demand-load modeling and service-sizing workflows need to start earlier in the design process. For GCs and permit expediters, it means flagging EV compliance in pre-submittal reviews so the correction cycle doesn't blow the schedule.
We're drafting under the 2026 standard every week in California, and we're watching review cycles carefully to see where plan reviewers are focusing their EV-compliance questions. So far, the most common correction is a missing demand-load calculation or a panel schedule that doesn't show enough spare capacity for future EV circuits.
If you're planning a California multifamily project and you haven't sized your main service for 100% EV-ready parking yet, start now. The permit reviewer won't remind you—they'll just kick the set back with a correction notice.
Need help coordinating EV infrastructure for a California apartment or condo project? Let's talk—we're working through the 2026 standard in San Diego, Los Angeles, San Jose, and Sacramento every month.