Seattle will let residents pick spots for 200 curbside EV chargers

Seattle plans to install up to 200 curbside Level 2 EV chargers by 2030, focused on areas with apartment buildings, InsideEVs reported. Residents can suggest sites until autumn 2027. The chargers are funded by a $1.55B transport levy and follow a pilot of 58 chargers.

Seattle plans to install up to 200 curbside chargers for electric cars by 2030, and residents can now suggest where they should go, InsideEVs reported . The programme is aimed at people in apartments, who often have no off-street parking or home charger. Europe has the same problem, which is why the EU is bringing in a “ right to plug ” for people in flats.

Applications are open on Seattle City Light’s website until autumn 2027. The city-owned utility and Seattle’s transport department will choose sites in batches of 40 to 50, starting in January 2027.

Priority goes to areas near apartment buildings that are far from existing curbside chargers. The city will also favour spots close to shops and parks, and communities with high pollution and a history of underinvestment.

Installation will start in autumn 2027, with about two weeks of building work at each site. All the chargers should be running by 2030.

The Level 2 chargers deliver up to 9.6 kilowatts, enough to add about 30 miles of range an hour, and cost $0.21 per kilowatt-hour. They are first come, first served, and can’t be reserved.

The plan builds on a pilot that installed 58 chargers at 31 sites. Those chargers were used 45,000 times in the past year, a transport department spokesperson told The Seattle Times . Demand is growing, with roughly one in four new vehicles registered in the Seattle area now electric, the city says.

The chargers are paid for by a $1.55B transport levy that Seattle voters approved in 2024. About $21M of it will go to the curbside chargers, according to The Seattle Times. Florida, by contrast, wants to spend its federal charger money on air taxi landing pads .

Other US cities are doing the same. In August, New York City said it would add 600 curbside chargers , after finding its existing ones were occupied up to 99% of the time. Fast charging is growing too: the US passed 80,000 fast-charging ports this month.