A Portland rule tying City money for EV charging to specific contractor and electrician certifications took effect Aug. 29. When Portland funds, in whole or in part, a customer-side EV charging installation, Chapter 26.11 requires the installation contractor to hold the legally required electrical licenses plus Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Training Program, or EVITP, certification or an equivalent training-program certification.1
For a charging system that will supply 25 kW or more to an EV, at least 25% of the electricians present and working on the installation must hold EVITP or equivalent certification.1 The code separately requires one or more EVITP-or-equivalent-certified electricians to supervise or participate whenever electrical installation work is being performed.1
That funding trigger is the key limit on the rule. Chapter 26.11 is not a blanket certification requirement for every public, commercial or privately funded charger installed within Portland; it applies when the City is funding the customer-side installation in whole or in part.1
The code also exempts single-family dwellings, townhouses and multifamily residential buildings with four or fewer units.1
The vote happened in July. The rule is what is new now.
Portland City Council passed Ordinance 192211 on July 29, a month before Chapter 26.11 became effective on Aug. 29.2 The ordinance also directs the Bureau of Fleet and Facilities and the Portland Clean Energy Community Benefits Fund, or PCEF, to report annually to Council on charger projects that qualified for the certification requirements and whether the workforce requirements were met.2
That distinction matters because the current development is implementation, not a new council vote. It also gives Portland a future public reporting mechanism for showing which City-funded projects actually fall under the rule instead of requiring readers to infer coverage from broader charging plans.2
Oregon already had a similar rule for state-funded charging
Portland did not create Oregon's first EVITP-related charging standard. Oregon Revised Statutes 283.410 already apply substantively similar requirements when a state agency authorizes or funds, in whole or in part, a customer-side EV charging installation.3
The state law likewise requires the relevant electrical licensing and EVITP-or-equivalent certification, uses the same 25 kW threshold and 25% certified-electrician requirement, and contains the same exemption for single-family homes, townhouses and multifamily buildings with four or fewer units.3 Portland's new code brings a similar set of conditions to qualifying City-funded projects; it does not change the scope of the state statute.
Portland has a large charging plan, but the rule's project count is unknown
CityFleet said in July 2025 that, with PCEF assistance, it planned to convert 700 fleet vehicles to battery-electric by July 2029 and expected to install at least 300 charging ports at City sites.4 Those numbers show why charger-installation rules can matter to Portland's own electrification work, but the current public record reviewed by the newsroom does not establish that all 300 planned ports are subject to Chapter 26.11. Applicability depends on the code's City-funding and customer-side-installation trigger, along with project-specific facts.14
The economic consequences are also not established yet. In the ordinance record, Prosper Portland staff said the submitted economic analysis was not detailed enough and recommended additional work, including evaluating an approximately $350 certification cost and roughly 30 hours of training or lost income.2 That is a recommendation to study potential burdens, not evidence that the new rule has already raised charger prices, delayed installations or created an electrician shortage.
The annual Fleet and PCEF reporting required by the ordinance should provide a firmer record of how many projects qualify and whether the workforce conditions are being met.2 Until project-level implementation data appear, the hard fact is narrower: Portland money for qualifying customer-side EV charging now comes with a defined certification standard, including the 25 kW / 25% threshold.1
Sources
Footnotes
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Chapter 26.11 Electric Vehicle Charging Systems Funding — City of Portland, effective Aug. 29, 2026. https://www.portland.gov/code/26/11. Current municipal code establishing the City-funding/customer-side trigger, contractor and electrician certification requirements, 25 kW / 25% threshold and residential exemption. It does not establish affected-project counts, realized costs or delays. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7
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Ordinance 192211 — Add Electric Vehicle Charging Systems Funding Code — City of Portland, passed July 29, 2026; code change effective Aug. 29, 2026. https://www.portland.gov/ru/node/60727. Official ordinance and legislative history establishing passage timing, the annual Fleet/PCEF reporting directive, and Prosper Portland staff's economic-analysis comments. The economic-analysis discussion does not establish realized project impacts. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5
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Oregon Revised Statutes 283.410 — Conditions for installation of electric vehicle charging systems authorized or funded by state agencies — Oregon Legislative Assembly, 2025 edition, current page reviewed Aug. 31, 2026. https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors283.html. Establishes the state-agency funding/authorization trigger, certification requirements, 25 kW / 25% threshold and small-residential exemption. ↩ ↩2
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City of Portland deploys solar-powered charging system for City electric vehicles — Portland Bureau of Fleet and Facilities / CityFleet, July 1, 2025. https://www.portland.gov/fleet-and-facilities/cityfleet/news/2025/7/1/city-portland-deploys-solar-powered-charging-system. Establishes CityFleet's stated plan for 700 battery-electric fleet conversions by July 2029 and at least 300 charging ports at City sites, with PCEF assistance; it does not establish that every planned port is covered by Chapter 26.11. ↩ ↩2