SEATTLE — Despite Washington's goal of phasing out sales of gas-powered vehicles by 2035, there's been little investment into the infrastructure on Seattle's streets where at-home charging stations are limited.
Seattle City Light is hoping to change that with a pilot program to bring curbside charging stations into neighborhoods. The first one is already up and running in Portage Bay.
The program kicked off last summer by taking submissions from people who wanted to bring a charging station to their street.
Since then, the city received 1,800 requests which Seattle City Light narrowed down to 31 locations.
Jacob Orenberg with Seattle City Light said the decision was based on factors like access to a garage, proximity to retail and parks and feasibility of construction.
For example, Seattle City Light worked closely with the Seattle Department of Transportation to stay out of bus lanes.
"We get emails from people who requested these saying, 'hey, has it been installed yet? I'm excited I want to be able to use it,'" Orenberg said. "And we're really working quickly to get these in the ground."
The remaining 30 other stations are expected to be completed this summer, but for some EV owners like Mark Long, the new charging station is a game changer.
Long was one of the 1,800 requestors and said he's been advocating for curbside charging for years as part of a floating home community and someone who depends on street parking.
The new charger has taken the guesswork out of finding a station that's both working and not in use, but he's hoping it's only the beginning.
"How do we use our limited assets and resources here to facilitate something that we know is coming?" Long said. "We have 19 homes and probably close to 25 or 30 cars.. so this is gonna be a big deal five or 10 years from now."
Data from Washington state shows there are 64,000 EVs in King County which is a big part of where the program goes from here.
"How people are using these chargers and maybe even installing more as early as 2024," Orenberg said.