Seattle City Light adding EV charging stations as pilot program
Apr 4, 2023, 2:38 PM | Updated: 3:27 pm
Electric cars are charged by a wall charger on July 15, 2022. (Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images)
(Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images)
Thirty-one electric vehicle (EV) charging stations will be installed around Seattle beginning this month.
Seattle City Light, along with the Seattle Department of Transportation, are overseeing the program.
This will help meet the growing number of EV owners find a charging station in their neighborhood. The locations were determined by the number of requests in a given area, availability of infrastructure, and property type.
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The stations will be constructed on metal poles, wooden poles, and stand-alone pedestals, with all structures installed by the end of summer.
The locations of the chargers are as follows:
300 block W Mercer St 3900 block Whitman Ave N 4800 block California Ave SW
4000 block E McGilvra St 500 block 20th Ave E 2100 block California Ave SW
1700 block N 46th St 4200 block Stone Way N 700 block 143rd St
1600 block NE 143rd St 300 block Pontius Ave N 100 block Bellevue Ave E
300 block N 45th St 1100 block 13th Ave 3600 block Dayton Ave N
1700 block NW 57TH St 7000 block 17th Ave SW 200 block MLK Jr Way S
1300 block 12th Ave S 600 block 7th Ave S 2900 block Fuhrman Ave E
6000 block 16th Ave SW 4800 block Fauntleroy Way SW 500 block Valley St
4700 block 35th Ave S 1900 block Fairview Ave E 1700 block 15th Ave
500 block W Olympic Pl 1400 block S Hill St 1700 block S Forest St
400 block NE Maple Leaf Pl
The current cost to charge an electric car with a City Light Level 2 charger is $0.21 per kilowatt-hour (kWh). One kWh provides a typical EV with enough energy to travel over three miles.
The Washington Department of Ecology announced last year that all new light-duty cars and trucks sold in Washington must meet zero-emission vehicle standards by 2035.
“Washingtonians are embracing the transition from cars powered by fossil fuels – there are already more than 100,000 electric vehicles on our roads,” said Laura Watson, the director of the Washington Department of Ecology, in a prepared statement. “We’ve seen a significant number of new, zero-emission vehicles come on the market in recent years, and we are confident that the technology, production capacity, and charging infrastructure needed to make this shift will be there.”
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To help this transition, both the state and the federal government are offering incentives for drivers who switch to electric and other zero-emission vehicles.
New zero-emission vehicles purchased in Washington for up to $45,000 and used zero-emission vehicles purchased for up to $30,000 are at least partially exempt from state sales taxes — sometimes fully, depending on certain benchmarks.
Additionally, starting in 2023, the federal Inflation Reduction Act will offer consumers a tax credit of up to $4,000 towards purchasing a used EV and up to $7,500 towards the cost of a new EV.
