FOLLOWUP: Junction EV chargers still out of service. Meantime, new city-owned chargers headed for West Seattle street parking

| Transportation | Utilities | West Seattle news

Those are the city-owned electric-vehicle chargers on 39th SW in The Junction, by Spruce and West Seattle Bowl. As reported here last month, vandals/thieves have left both inoperable, and they’re not fixed yet. We asked Seattle City Light spokesperson Jenn Strang about its status; she says, “We plan to repair all of the recently damaged chargers. Unfortunately, there are supply-chain disruptions in purchasing the replacement charging cables that have caused some delays, but we expect to begin repairs on the 39th Ave SW chargers this month.”

We also asked her about permit applications we’ve seen in the city’s online files for publicly owned chargers on the street in several West Seattle areas. According to Strang, “That is part of Seattle City Light’s new Curbside Level 2 EV Charging pilot project. We received 1,800 requests through public process and evaluated each based on pre-defined criteria designed to select locations that will serve the greatest number of customers and best achieve the City’s equity and environmental goals. The chargers will be owned and operated by City Light and will be available for use by the public. We expect to begin construction in late March and to have all locations operational by summer. The complete list of locations will be announced soon.” So far we’ve found permit applications for four West Seattle public-charger locations: 2100 California SW, 4830 Fauntleroy Way SW, 4850 California SW, and 7015 17th SW.

bolo February 15, 2023 (4:16 pm)

I wonder if they are able to do anything to avoid the replacement cables getting stolen so easily/soon again.

CarDriver February 15, 2023 (4:30 pm)

One bad thing about all these chargers is the fact that as more trucks and suv’s go all electric they will be used to tow things. Boats, recreational trailers, work trailers/equipment. Problem is…in order to charge the driver will have to try to find a parking place for their trailer-unhook it then pull into a charging spot then go back and pick up their trailer. At some point there will be drive through chargers to accommodate but as of now buyer beware!

Peter February 15, 2023 (5:56 pm)

Wow. You’ve taken concern trolling to a whole new level. Quite an achievement.
- CarDriver February 15, 2023 (8:45 pm)
  
  Peter. Educate us as to what isn’t true about what i said. Didn’t realize pointing out current reality was trolling.

Neighbor February 15, 2023 (4:35 pm)

What is being done to secure these chargers from future vandalism/theft?

Ex-Westwood Resident February 15, 2023 (9:10 pm)

Whole Foods parking garage. This will be the norm for public charging stations

Charged-up February 16, 2023 (10:02 am)

Simple solution.
Build electric cars just like all other electric sourced appliances with a power cable attached to the car with a receptacle at the charging station.

I assume EVs were initially designed without the on-board charging cord as weight saving.
Charging stations could provide both a cable and a receptacle.
- WS Res February 16, 2023 (5:38 pm)
  
  You assume wrong and this has been addressed elsewhere in comments. EVs are sold with a Level 1/2 charger, that can run off your home’s power, but it can take 8-12 hours or more to charge a nearly-discharged battery depending on its capacity. These public stations are Level 3/supercharging stations that can charge 70-80% of battery capacity in 40 minutes or so. The cables are far too heavy and unwieldy to carry around in your trunk for use.

Bunzo February 15, 2023 (9:13 pm)

Why does the government provide such infrastructure? They don’t for biofuels. And some electricity is via coal or petrol. This is nonsense.

Chris February 16, 2023 (7:47 am)

My best guess is because liquid fuels can be added to a vehicle in a couple of minutes, while electric charging can take hours, and there is a need for charging in public parking areas yet little or no mechanisms for private business to provide that service on publicly owned land, and likely not a business model for street parking stations. It’s a missing component of a growing system, and It’s not nonsense if hundreds of people are clamoring to have access to the service, it’s a public need
JTM February 16, 2023 (8:53 am)

Biofuels get massive tax credits and Seattle electricity is some of the cleanest in the nation. Try again.Biofuels: https://afdc.energy.gov/laws/5831https://www.spglobal.com/commodityinsights/en/market-insights/latest-news/oil/072922-biofuels-get-boost-from-tax-credits-infrastructure-funding-in-surprise-us-senate-budget-proposal#:~:text=The%20legislation%20also%20extends%20the,2024%20for%20sustainable%20aviation%20fuel.Seattle Power Sources: https://www.seattle.gov/city-light/energy-and-environment#:~:text=In%20a%20typical%20year%2C%20about,BPA)%20and%20other%20renewable%20sources.
skeeter February 16, 2023 (9:10 am)

Same reason government provides roads, sidewalks, busses, and ferries. There is no private enterprise that’s able to provide these services at scale for an affordable price.

Ex-Westwood Resident February 15, 2023 (9:14 pm)

The possible solution is to have the cords in a locked, retractable drum that becomes unlocked once the a payment method has been logged.

Once complete, and unplugged, the cords retract back in.

DC February 16, 2023 (8:14 am)

Why are they putting one at 7015 17th SW? Do all those homeowners with off street parking available to them really need one? Can think of a hundred places with more need.

S - In West Seattle February 16, 2023 (9:01 am)

It’s sad to see the government pushing consumers from one far direction (Combustible engine) to the other far direction (Electric only). What happened to a happy median and do gas/electric. Slow change over would help infrastructure get caught up and allow consumers to be more agreeable to move to an electric vehicle.

Lagartija Nick February 16, 2023 (9:47 am)

They did do that, hybrid vehicles have been around since the mid 90’s.
Charged-up February 16, 2023 (10:11 am)

A few frogs have realized our water is about to boil us to oblivion and are making desperately needed changes for survival.

It is our climate that is forcing the changes away from combustion energies of all types.

Our future is combustion free.
East Vashon February 16, 2023 (10:14 am)

Every major car manufacturer has pivoted to EVs and many will stop producing ICE vehicles completely in the next decade, government is late to the game, not leading it.The happy medium you describe is today.
WestSeattleBadTakes February 16, 2023 (11:14 am)

I am sure you are an advocate for reducing our car dependency right? Our citizens have asked for this by rejecting hybrids, rejecting public transit, rejecting zoning changes, rejecting walkability, rejecting cycling infrastructure, and allowing crooks like Elon Musk to sell you an expensive solution subsidized by your tax dollars.

The real climate solution was rethinking our dependency on cars. Instead, we decided the solution is to continue using cars. So the next logical choice? Electric. As mentioned, hybrids have been around for decades but haven’t even hit 6% of the market (as of 2021).

Now we get to watch our infrastructure crumble under the weight of these massive electric vehicles that don’t pay their fair share. All while the Earth becomes inhospitable for us all.

You are correct though, our government has failed by embracing electric vehicles, but not because the change is too big, but because it is the wrong solution.
- Jort February 16, 2023 (12:56 pm)
  
  You are, of course, correct. This city, as well as all cities, are not in any way prepared for the full electrification issue that will come with electric cars. Gas cars, for all their faults (of which there are many and which are also existential threats) are very good at the “energy storage and distribution” problem. Electric cars will require high-voltage electrical connections everywhere they park. Every street, every garage, every parking garage, every parking lot. People have no idea how 1) expensive 2) disruptive 3) ugly 4) stupid this entire effort would be. Say “your” charger is in front of your house. Somebody else parks there, you can’t charge the car. Somebody breaks the charger. Is the city going to build out an entire network of high voltage chargers that line every single street in the city’s thousands of miles of roads? Do people even think about how much this will cost? How long it would take? Who will pay for it?! Electric cars are certainly an improvement over combustible engines, but they have some serious challenges that we need to think about and they are not going to magically solve themselves. The problem, of course, is cars themselves. And the solutions to that are, actually, quite simple and obvious.

N February 16, 2023 (12:26 pm)

The Whole foods charger has been out of order for almost a year now, long before someone cut the charging cable on that unit. It would be great to have a follow up on why it’s not maintained in such a prominent location.

CAM February 16, 2023 (7:37 pm)

I would ask the Whitaker that. They own it and are responsible for it’s maintenance. Whole Foods is a renter.

937 February 16, 2023 (3:48 pm)

To those asking – no one will answer. Because there is no answer Acceptable answer that is. So I’ll give it a shot…NO. Nothing is going to be done to prevent or deter theft. Theives gonna theive. The City is going to continue to pay lip service and hope against reality. But the fact of the matter is these stations will be open about a week, they will then be looted and outta commission for 6 months while the “supply chain” (baloney answer there too) “catches up”.Nothing to see here, move along. Pay your taxes…

Sorry, comment time is over.