Seattle will add up to 200 curbside EV chargers, and residents can ask for one on their block

Seattle plans to install up to 200 new curbside chargers for electric vehicles, and residents can now ask for one near their home, My Ballard reported on Oct. 23.

The program is a partnership between Seattle City Light, which will run the chargers, and the Seattle Department of Transportation. It expands a pilot that put 58 chargers at 31 locations in 2023 and 2024, according to My Ballard. Here is how it works, per the site:

• Who can apply: residents, through fall 2027. The city will give priority to people who live in apartments.
• How sites are picked: in batches of 40 to 50. The city looks at distance from existing chargers, population density, nearby businesses, multiple requests from the same block, apartment buildings that can't easily add charging, and communities facing more pollution.
• When: site design starts in spring 2027, and installation is expected to begin that fall. Each site takes about two weeks of construction.
• The chargers: Level 2, up to 9.6 kilowatts, roughly 30 miles of range per hour for a typical midsize EV. They will be on pedestals, steel poles or wood utility poles.
• Access: open to the public, first come, first served, with no reservations.

My Ballard did not report what drivers will pay to charge. SDOT's electrification page says the 2024 transportation levy will put $32 million into public EV charging and new program offerings, and links to the application.

For residents without a driveway or garage, a curbside charger can decide whether owning an EV is practical. Because the city is taking requests block by block, where chargers go will depend partly on who asks.

What our records add

The levy that pays for it. The Council sent the 2024 Transportation Levy to voters with CB 120788, sponsored by Rob Saka. It passed 9-0 at the July 9, 2024 meeting. In the levy select committee's vote a week earlier, eight members voted yes and Dan Strauss abstained. He voted yes at the full Council. Five members who voted for it are still on the Council: Saka, Joy Hollingsworth, Robert Kettle, Maritza Rivera and Strauss.

Who watches the levy money. A citizen Transportation Levy Oversight Committee reviews levy spending. Its members are appointed and confirmed through the Council. For example, Appt 03619 was confirmed this year, and Appt 03639 has been in committee since August.

Earlier charger rules. In 2024 the Council passed CB 120840 9-0 on Sept. 3, 2024. It changed City Light's code so EV charging stations can submeter electricity.

Not in this budget fight. The chargers are paid for by levy and City Light money, not the General Fund the Council is debating this week. Mayor Katie Wilson has said her budget closes a projected transportation fund deficit without touching voter-approved levy projects, MyNorthwest reported. Transportation proposals come to the Select Budget Committee on Wednesday, Oct. 28.

What's next

• Now through fall 2027: residents can request a charger through the city's program page, linked from SDOT's electrification page.
• Spring 2027: design of the first batch of sites.
• Fall 2027: first installations expected, per My Ballard.