VIDEO: Seattle City Light shows off new curbside chargers for EVs

You might have noticed a few of those unique parking signs around the peninsula. They mark curbside spaces for users of Seattle City Light‘s new public Level 2 curbside chargers. SCL invited media to a demonstration on Tuesday at the one installed in the 2100 block of California SW, one of the locations we first mentioned after spotting the city permit application more than a year ago. Citywide, the pilot project is installing 58 chargers at 31 locations – two chargers at most sites – and 25 of those sites are now operational, five in West Seattle, including this one.

The program uses a few different types of chargers – this one is tailored expressly to installation on metal utility poles. It’s first-come, first-served, up to four hours of parking for EVs that are being charged (longer if they’re parked overnight). They envision the average user, driving 25 miles a day, would use a charger like this once or twice a week, for up to four hours. These are (corrected) 9.6-kilowatt-hour chargers, not high-speed; the cost to the user is 21 cents per kilowatt-hour, so that’s (corrected) about $2 an hour, which SCL’s Jacob Orenberg says would get the average EV driver about 30 miles. You need to use an app, special card, or pay by phone to get access to the cord. Here’s how it works.

To reduce the chances of vandalism and theft that have plagued City Light’s first generation of public chargers, features include the cables staying inaccessible until activated, and the fact that these Level 2 cables have very little content of value, Orenberg said, maybe “a buck worth of copper.” The installation and activation took longer than originally hoped, he also said, for reasons inclluding designs that needed to be “reconfigured,” leading to “permits that needed to be redone,” and contractor scheduling delays, “no one thing.” But now that they’re available, SCL say, “use has far exceeded our expectations,” so far. You can see the five West Seattle locations (plus the city’s Junction fast-charger station, and future Morgan Junction charging lot) on this map.

34 Replies to "VIDEO: Seattle City Light shows off new curbside chargers for EVs"

  • tommy May 8, 2024 (7:13 pm)

    30 miles per hour charge??? did I get that right? 

    • WSB May 8, 2024 (7:16 pm)

      For this level of chargers, that’s what they said.

    • Jay May 8, 2024 (7:52 pm)

      Right.  You plug in your car, go about your merry way for a while, and come back to retrieve your car.  Easy.  And cheap.

      • Jake May 9, 2024 (9:14 am)

        Yeah all you need to do is not need to drive, which is silly. How will people do road trips in these cars? Three hour stops at electronic charging stations? No way. 

        • WSB May 9, 2024 (9:53 am)

          Fast chargers work much more quickly.

        • Erik May 9, 2024 (11:26 am)

          These lower chargers are not meant for what you are assuming. They are meant for small charge amounts for when you’re running into a store and going out for a couple hours. Those little amounts can add up if you’re doing them frequently enough. If you’re on a long trip, you would never use one of those. Everyone knows that. You would use a fast charger. 

    • deo May 8, 2024 (8:52 pm)

      Yes. For context, my L1 charger (110V) gets my car 30 miles after roughly 10 hours.  The electricity costs quarter of what gasoline would cost to move my car 30 miles.The city charger described here comes out to around half price of gasoline (assuming $3.78 a gallon at 30mpg).I’m glad these savings will come to folks living in apartment buildings!

  • Alex May 8, 2024 (7:22 pm)

    These stations reduce the number of spots available for street parking.  Get caught using one to park and it is a $164 ticket.   I can see a few public parking spots being privatized for EV owners to charge, but if this goes wholesale,  it will be a problem.

    • Aaron May 8, 2024 (8:17 pm)

      These stations enhance the desirability of electric vehicles, which feature significantly reduced CO2 emissions[1] versus an internal combustion vehicle, which seems like a useful trait when we’re in a climate crisis and need to get to net-zero CO2 emissions as quickly as possible.[1] for the pedants out there, yes your EV doesn’t directly emit CO2, but the production lifecycle and charging in some places will certainly cause CO2 to be emitted. https://www.nationalgrid.com/stories/energy-explained/what-are-scope-1-2-3-carbon-emissions

    • KBear May 8, 2024 (8:19 pm)

      There’s plenty of parking in the Junction. Some of it requires payment. Maybe you should stop relying on government handouts to store your private vehicle. 

      • Mr J May 8, 2024 (8:53 pm)

        Government handouts? You still have to pay. It’s no different than residential property zones that you pay into, And we’re talking a handful of spots.

        • Shawn May 9, 2024 (11:47 am)

          Street parking is absolutely a form of private vehicle storage subsidy. They charge far less than market rates for parking, when they bother charging anything at all. I’d like to see that public land actually generate some revenue. We apparently need it if the schools are so broke.

    • bolo May 8, 2024 (8:28 pm)

      Yes, and even worse than that, what about all those long gas station driveway aprons that we can’t park in front of? That’s a way more expensive ticket!

    • Mac J May 8, 2024 (8:47 pm)

      So the concern is that parking spots might be used to park in?

    • Mr J May 8, 2024 (8:48 pm)

      It’s about creating a network to charge so that EV owners have better access. Since we don’t have gas stations all over and the charging process can take a while (on these specific chargers). It’s not intended to take up all the street parking, that comment is ill informed and a bit ridiculous since we all pay taxes for street use. For people who don’t have home charging this is a really helpful plan.Now I hope they can make a similar system for the level 3 chargers that are always getting vandalized. 

  • bolo May 8, 2024 (8:22 pm)

    [the fact that these Level 2 cables have very little content of value, Orenberg said, maybe “a buck worth of copper.”]

    False deterrent there. Get four of those cables and even a high-tolerance fentanyl addict stays comfortably high for at least a few days.

    https://mynorthwest.com/3932181/police-fentanyl-pills-being-sold-little-40-cents-seattle/

    • Mr J May 8, 2024 (8:50 pm)

      But they can’t get access to the cables is the other part of that statement. They have to have an acct/app etc to activate it. Also given the distance these are apart you’d be spending more money on gas to collect them if you could get access to them.

  • Kalo May 8, 2024 (9:00 pm)

    Saw a news report this AM. Folks are walking away from their EVs due to the expense and relatively short battery life. $12-20k! for replacement, plus shortage of said batteries and qualified mechanics. 

    • Westwood May 8, 2024 (11:50 pm)

      LOL…short battery life. Gonna need a cite for that. Still happily driving my 10-year old EV, which has only lost about 10% of its battery capacity. 

    • Jsbm May 9, 2024 (4:08 am)

      That sounds like.a biased report. The DOE estimates EV batteries last 12 – 15 years in moderate climates. Some ICE engines may need to be replaced within a similar timeframe. The cost to replace batteries may be more that replacing a combustion engine, but there will be savings with an EV from charging vs fuel, and no reoccurring service costs. https://www.caranddriver.com/research/a31875141/electric-car-battery-life/

    • SLJ May 9, 2024 (8:38 am)

      My battery has an 8 year warranty. The EV owners I know love their cars. I’m never going back to gasoline. The car is much more fun to drive, is cheaper to maintain (annual check up to rotate tires is about it), and doesn’t pollute. They are more expensive, so it doesn’t work for everyone right now, but they will get cheaper with time.

    • rpo May 9, 2024 (9:40 am)

      You can practically count the # of people who have needed a battery replacement on an EV on one hand. When it happens, which is incredibly rare, it does make the news though which leads to people thinking it happens all the time.

    • zark00 May 10, 2024 (10:27 am)

      lol, yeah on Fox news, that’s the only outlet stupid enough to still be spewing the ev’s are bad garbage – and you fell for it hahahaha!

  • bill May 8, 2024 (9:02 pm)

    Units are slipshod and math is wrong. The price should have been stated as 21¢ per kilowatt-hour. Charge at 9.6 kw for 1 hour, that’s: (9.6 kw)(1 h)($0.21/kwh) = $2.02.

    • WSB May 8, 2024 (9:33 pm)

      Sorry, I’m guilty of reusing the estimate I made on the spot at the event, should have rounded it to “about $2.” Thanks for the corrections.

  • PDiddy May 8, 2024 (11:46 pm)

    So rich people who can afford expensive E cars get to park for free and charge for free. Anyone else see an issue herer cuz no one I know with a Tesla is anywhere near broke. Actually overall super rich.

    • WSB May 9, 2024 (1:22 am)

      No, this is not free. And if someone is “super rich,” chances are they have their own driveway/garage/charger. The EV owners with the nearby view homes we walk past do.

    • Keira May 9, 2024 (7:47 am)

      Actually, this helps people that have to live in apartments and need to keep down costs the most. I have a friend that has a Nissan Leaf and greatly depends on the public chargers because basically no apartments have chargers. Because of SCL locations like this she is able to keep driving costs down and be a great single mom of two kids while keeping up her business (that requires a ton of driving).

    • WS Res May 9, 2024 (7:55 am)

      Chevy Bolts need charging too. $32K when we bought ours.

    • Ron Swanson May 9, 2024 (9:30 am)

      Used Nissan Leaf is one of the cheapest city cars to buy and operate – and given the relatively short range, one of the ones most in need of public charging stations.

    • bill May 9, 2024 (10:23 am)

      My friend who bought a used Tesla is not super rich. 

  • Erik May 9, 2024 (11:28 am)

    If anyone sees non-EV cars parked in these stalls you can use the find-it fix-it app to snap a photo and report them for a parking violation to the city. Been seeing way too many non-EVs parking in them recently and it’s a pain for us EV owners that want to take advantage of a valuable service.

  • Bbron May 10, 2024 (4:09 am)

    hilarious that the quote “when all you’ve known is privilege, equality will look like oppression” plays out so nicely in the comments. the decrying that this is privatization of “public space” or that it unfairly benefits the financially well off… all while i sit here unable to afford a car at all because, as it turns out, car ownership alone is a barrier. and i can’t go post up in a park space with a lawn chair, so if this area is truly “public,” am i not being denied my rights?

  • Tomas May 10, 2024 (6:21 am)

    The same people that complain are the same ones who complain about gas prices. They also drive a SUV. At this rate we will never catch up to Asia or Europe. Open your minds. 

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