Although most electric cars are charged at home while their driver is sleeping or are charged in a parking lot while the driver is at work, there are public charging stations that can be used as well. Public charging connections are available throughout the world in public parking areas, at businesses, hotels, RV parks, state and national parks, and Tesla Supercharging Stations. Electric outlets are ubiquitous and can often being used if charging stations are not available.
Paying for Public Charging
Although some public charging stations are free, many require payment. Some public charging station networks offer subscription plans with monthly fees. These plans may be beneficial for very frequent users of these charging staions. Although charging station companies are permitted to offer membership or subscription plans California law prohibits companies providing public charging stations from requiring subscription fees for the use of the charging stations. Use without the payment of a subscription or membership fee must be permitted and the user must be permitted to pay with a credit card or mobile technology.
Charging at Government Agencies
The California state constitution generally prohibits the making of a gift of money or thing of value. Because this could be interpreted to mean that cities, counties, school districts, and other taxpayer funded entities could not offer free EV charging, the California Legislature passed Assembly Bill 2414 that specifies that the use of electricity for EV charging is not a gift of public funds. http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB2414