Seattle plans to install up to 200 new public curbside Level 2 electric vehicle chargers by 2030, and residents can ask for one outside their own building since October 2026. The program is run by Seattle City Light, the city-owned utility, together with the Seattle Department of Transportation, and it is aimed at people who rent or live in apartments and have no garage or driveway to plug into.
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Curbside charging addresses a housing problem. City Light says more than half of Seattle’s homes are apartments or condominiums, and a plug-in vehicle is only practical for residents of those buildings if a public charger sits within reach of the front door.
The 200-charger target and its 2030 deadline
The City Light program page says the city aims to install up to 200 new public curbside chargers, all expected to be in service by 2030. That is a ceiling, not a guarantee of 200 stations, and the schedule on the same page spreads the work out: location selection begins in January 2027 in batches of 40 to 50, design and permitting follow from spring 2027, installation starts in fall 2027 over about three years, and chargers come online between 2028 and 2030.
The program builds on a pilot. According to the city, the pilot finished in June 2025 with 58 chargers at 31 locations, and Electrek’s report on the expansion says SDOT saw strong use and positive community feedback there. The new chargers are funded by the eight-year, $1.55 billion Seattle Transportation Levy, which voters approved in 2024; chargers in City Light’s service area outside Seattle come from the utility’s own electrification budget instead.
How residents request a curbside charger
Residents apply through an online form, a Survey123 questionnaire linked from the program page under an Apply Now button. City Light and SDOT review the applications and pick the locations. Applications are accepted for 12 months starting in October 2026, so the window runs through the fall of 2027, and Electrek reported on Oct. 22 that requests are reviewed and locations chosen on an ongoing basis during that time.
The city lists the criteria it will weigh. Sites closer to an existing curbside charger rank lower, since underserved areas are prioritized. Population density counts, especially near multifamily housing, along with proximity to parks, grocery stores and businesses as measured by walk score. Several requests from the same block help a site, as do requests from multifamily properties facing high barriers to charging and from overburdened communities. Every site must also meet technical requirements, including access to a power source, which means a popular request can still fail on electrical grounds.
What the chargers cost and deliver
The chargers deliver up to 9.6 kilowatts, which the city says gives a typical midsize EV up to 30 miles of range per hour. City Light charges $0.21 per kilowatt-hour on its Level 2 network, and Electrek works out that adding 30 kilowatt-hours costs $6.30. At the utility’s own estimate of about three miles per kilowatt-hour, that is roughly 90 miles of range, though real results vary with the vehicle and driving conditions.
Level 2 charging is slow by design. The units are meant for topping up while a car sits near home overnight or through an evening, not for a quick fill on a road trip, and all new locations will be open to the public rather than reserved for the household that asked.
Demand for the pilot gives a sense of what the city may face. The program page says the earlier effort drew more than 1,800 public requests in 2022, long before any chargers went in, and the expansion is the city’s answer to that backlog. Seattle says its chargers can add roughly 12 to 30 miles of range per hour depending on the vehicle and equipment, which is why the program is pitched at cars parked for hours rather than minutes. Electrek describes the stations as intended for topping up while parked near home, and says City Light and SDOT are targeting neighborhoods with the fewest charging options first.
Where to look before applying
City Light’s page links a map of existing chargers, including the pilot sites, so residents can check how far their block is from the nearest plug before filing a request. The utility also runs a separate public charging page covering its wider network, and Electrek’s Oct. 22 coverage adds that older houses and houseboats can also lack off-street charging.
Applicants can file the request itself through the city’s online application. Because selection is spread across batches beginning in January 2027, a request filed early in the 12-month window is not necessarily answered quickly, and the first chargers are not scheduled to go in until fall 2027.
This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.
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