Most coverage of California's fast-charging grants focuses on the money and the dates. For anyone actually preparing an application, the harder constraint is the hardware. CALeVIP does not reimburse you for the charger you like. It reimburses you for a charger that appears on a list, and that list is governed by a specific set of certifications.
This matters more in Window 2 than it used to, because the per-port numbers are large enough that picking the wrong equipment is an expensive mistake. Window 2 of the Fast Charge California Project runs from October 7, 2026 to January 14, 2027 and pays up to 100% of approved costs, capped at $55,000 per port for chargers guaranteeing 150 to 274.99 kW and $100,000 per port at 275 kW and above.
For the funding amounts, site eligibility and how these windows compare, see California Reopens CALeVIP Fast Charging Grants. This article is about the equipment.
The gate: if it is not on the dashboard, it does not qualify
Before any individual requirement, understand the structure. CALeVIP maintains an Eligible Equipment Dashboard, and eligibility is a listing decision, not a judgment you make yourself. The program's own Equipment Eligibility Resource Guide is blunt about it:
"Can I choose equipment that is not listed on the dashboard? No. For equipment to be eligible for an incentive, it must be verified to meet minimum requirements by CALeVIP. If a charger is not listed, it means it has not been verified yet."
Two practical consequences. First, "not listed" is not the same as "rejected." The guide describes listing as something a manufacturer initiates, and the dashboard is updated on a rolling basis, so a model can be absent simply because nobody has submitted it. Second, the dashboard is the only authority that matters on the day you apply. Everything below explains what sits behind a listing, but before you commit to hardware you should open the CALeVIP Eligible Equipment Dashboard and confirm your exact model and configuration is on it.
What the spec actually requires
These come from CALeVIP's Equipment Eligibility Resource Guide for the Fast Charge California Project.
OCPP 2.0.1, and two specific profiles. The charger must "be certified from OCA to OCPP version 2.0.1 or later," and the guide is precise about scope: "Equipment must meet the minimum certificates of OCPP 2.0.1 Core Profile and OCPP 2.0.1 Advanced Security Profile." OCPP certification is issued by the Open Charge Alliance and tested by independent labs, and it is granted per profile rather than as a single pass or fail. This is the requirement that trips up more equipment than people expect.
CCS connectors, and the incentive math that follows. Eligible equipment "uses Combined Charging System (CCS) connectors and/or CCS adapters fully integrated into the charger so they cannot be removed from the site." Other standards are permitted but do not earn money: "North American Connector Standard (NACS) and CHAdeMO connectors may be installed but will not be considered when determining the incentive cap for the proposed installation."
Read that carefully, because it is not a ban. The guide clarifies that non-CCS ports "will count towards the total project costs but will not be considered when determining the incentive cap." Window 2 adds a floor on top of this: a minimum of 50% CCS connectors installed per site.
One caution on how this plays out in practice. The eligible equipment dashboard does list NACS-connector models, including single-connector J3400 units shown with a rebate amount against them, so the relationship between the connector rule and the per-model figures on the dashboard is not as simple as "NACS earns nothing." Treat the dashboard's rebate column as a per-model reference and confirm how the incentive cap will be calculated for your specific connector mix with CALeVIP before you rely on a number.
CTEP certification for the meter. The charger must "be certified by the California Type Evaluation Program (CTEP)." National Type Evaluation Program certification is accepted if the model is certified to a 0.0001 kWh display resolution. This is a weights-and-measures requirement, and it is a common gap for equipment designed primarily for markets that do not sell electricity by the kWh.
An NRTL safety listing. Certification by a Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratory to either UL 2202 or UL 9741, with the certificate number provided. UL 2202 covers one-way charging and UL 9741 covers bidirectional.
ISO 15118 hardware ready. By self-attestation on the product specification sheet, covering powerline carrier high-level communication per ISO 15118-3, secure key and certificate storage, TLS 1.2 or later, remote updates, and back-end network connection. This one is self-attested, so it is a lower bar than the others.
At least 150 kW guaranteed per charging port. Note the definition of port: "the number of connectors that can simultaneously supply the minimum guaranteed output at any one time." A two-connector charger that can only serve one vehicle at a time is one port, not two.
Networked, with a six-year commitment. Connectable by Wi-Fi, ethernet or cellular at 4G or above, capable of over-the-air updates, remote diagnostics, remote start and utilization data collection, collecting session data, and covered by a networking agreement for a minimum of six years.
Open payment. If payment is required, the charger must comply with payment accessibility law, and "a subscription or membership cannot be required to dispense energy."
New equipment on new or make-ready infrastructure. Resold, rebuilt, rented, warranty-replacement and gifted equipment is all ineligible. Existing DC fast chargers can be replaced only if their output is below 40 kW.
Where Tesla's Supercharger sits against this
Tesla is the largest fast-charging network in the country, it now sells Supercharger hardware to third-party site hosts, and its V4 units clear the 150 kW output bar comfortably. So the question of whether a California site host can put Supercharger hardware behind a CALeVIP grant is a live one.
The intuitive answer is that Tesla runs a proprietary protocol and therefore cannot meet an OCPP requirement. That answer is out of date. Tesla holds a current Open Charge Alliance certificate:
- Certificate number: OCA.0201.0103.CS
- Product designation: V4 Supercharger NA+EU (with V3 Cabinet)
- Firmware version: 25.18.0-ocpp
- Certification date: July 1, 2025
- Tested by: DNV Energy USA, Inc.
Tesla does speak OCPP 2.0.1, and it has the certificate to prove it. The complication is which profiles that certificate covers. OCPP certification is granted profile by profile, and the Test Result Summary inside this certificate reads:
| Certification profile | Test result |
|---|
| Core | Pass |
| Advanced Security | Not Tested |
| Local Authorization List Management | Not Tested |
| Smart Charging | Not Tested |
| Advanced Device Management | Not Tested |
| Reservation | Not Tested |
CALeVIP names two profiles as its minimum: Core and Advanced Security. The certificate shows Core passing and Advanced Security untested. On the face of the two documents, that is a gap against a stated requirement. An earlier Tesla certificate, OCA.0201.0018.CS from February 2024, is Core only as well.
Alongside that, the connector math works against a Tesla-only build regardless of certification. Superchargers are NACS. Under CALeVIP's rules a NACS port earns no incentive, and Window 2 requires at least half the connectors on the site to be CCS. A site host who wants Supercharger hardware and CALeVIP money is therefore looking at a mixed-hardware site by design, with the grant attaching to the CCS side of it.
What this does not tell you
Three honest limits on the above, because this is the kind of detail that gets repeated carelessly.
An OCPP certificate is a snapshot of a product and a firmware version. This one covers V4 Supercharger NA+EU on firmware 25.18.0-ocpp. Certification is something a manufacturer chooses to pursue, and Tesla could submit for Advanced Security testing at any point, which would change the picture. Nothing here says Tesla cannot meet the requirement. It says that as of today the certified product does not carry that profile.
We have not confirmed what the dashboard currently shows. CALeVIP's eligible equipment dashboard is an interactive embedded tool, and its contents are not readable from the page source, so this article does not assert whether any particular Tesla model is listed or absent. That is a question for the dashboard itself on the day you check it, and the answer can change biweekly.
Requirements move between windows. The detailed specification above is drawn from CALeVIP's published Equipment Eligibility Resource Guide for the Fast Charge California Project. The authoritative document for any given application period is that window's Implementation Manual, and CALeVIP has already demonstrated that the rules shift: Window 3 changes the connector requirement again, dropping to a single CCS connector per site.
What to do before you buy
- Open the eligible equipment dashboard and find your exact model and configuration. Not the manufacturer, the model and configuration.
- If it is not there, contact CALeVIP at EVCharging@energycenter.org rather than assuming it is disqualified. Listing is application-driven and the guide explicitly invites the question.
- Ask your vendor for the OCPP certificate itself, not a marketing claim of OCPP support, and check which profiles it covers. "OCPP 2.0.1 certified" and "certified to Core and Advanced Security" are different statements.
- Confirm CTEP or NTEP certification separately. It is a distinct lookup from safety listing, and the California Department of Food and Agriculture publishes a searchable register.
- Count your CCS connectors against the 50% site minimum before you finalize a mixed-standard layout, and remember that non-CCS ports still count toward total project costs even though they do not raise the incentive cap.
- Read the Window 2 Implementation Manual when it governs your application, and treat any secondary summary, including this one, as a starting point rather than the rule.
The broader point for anyone specifying hardware in California right now is that the certification stack has quietly become the binding constraint. Output ratings and connector counts are easy to compare on a spec sheet. Whether a given unit carries the right OCPP profiles, a CTEP certificate and the right UL listing is harder to check, and it is what decides whether a six-figure per-port incentive is available to you.