Preparing to power up: Dunn proposes County develop electric car charging station policies

August 14, 2009

Summary

Guidelines will aid the development and use of charging stations at county facilities

Story

Citing the County’s interest in embracing new and greener technologies, Metropolitan King County Councilmember Reagan Dunn today introduced a motion calling on the County Executive to propose policies to guide the development and use of electric vehicle charging stations at county facilities.

“These are exciting times. The County is taking a leadership role in moving towards using electric cars for our motor pool and Van share programs,” said Dunn. “If we are going to embrace this technology we need to be ready to supply charging stations at our park and ride lots as well as other county facilities.”

New technologies are making electric vehicles economically feasible to own and owners of these vehicles will need convenient charging stations to recharge their vehicles. As the county purchases more electric cars, the agencies will incur costs to develop and operating these charging stations.

The motion directs the Executive to draft policies regarding the operation of charging stations on properties owned or leased by the county and cost considerations in development and operating these stations. The motion calls for the Executive to submit these policies to the County Council by September 14, 2009.

“There is no denying that King County wants to be a leader in green technology, but we also must be realistic in terms of our difficult financial situation,” said Dunn. “We’re going to need to have policies in place that will allow us to recover some or all of the costs in developing and operating these charging stations if need be and currently there is no framework in place to do that.”