Electric Vehicle-Ready Parking Proposed for All New Seattle Buildings

Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan proposed new electric vehicle parking requirements in the recent State of the City address, but the proposal is in keeping with the Seattle Climate Action Plan released in April 2018.

1 minute read

February 24, 2019, 11:00 AM PST

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


Seattle, Washington

Kiewic / Flickr

"Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan is proposing that all new buildings be equipped for electric vehicle (EV) charging as part of the city’s climate change strategy," reports Jason Plautz.

"Under the proposal, any individual residence with private parking would have to include one EV-ready space, and multi-family developments with shared parking must have 20% of their spaces be EV-ready," adds Plautz. "At least 10% of spaces at non-residential buildings would have to be EV-ready."

The EV parking requirement is just one component of the proposed Seattle Climate Action Plan, released in 2018. The city targets 12 initiatives to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, but transportation will require the most effort. An estimated two-thirds of the city's carbon emissions come from transportation—far higher than the national average.

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