An empty lot near the western edge of Seattle is destined to become a charging site for electric vehicles, according to project plans from Seattle City Light.
The gravel lot in the Ballard neighborhood at 2826 NW Market St. is owned by Seattle City Light and was formerly the Market Street Substation. Originally purchased in 1957 for that use, the site was phased out and decommissioned in 1999 in favor of larger area substations.
Located between the Sloop Tavern and a VFW post, the approximately 9,468-square-foot lot has been used intermittently for other purposes, including a City-permitted encampment for people experiencing homelessness from November 2015 to March 2018.
Plans for the Market Street EV Charging Site, also reported on Wednesday by MyBallard, call for a new parking lot and electrical infrastructure, and the site will be leased to two third-party electric vehicle service providers (EVSPs). According to City Light, those EVSPs will be determined through a competitive request-for-proposals process and will install their own public charging infrastructure and operate their chargers on the site.
Jacob Orenberg, senior capital projects coordinator for Seattle City Light, told GeekWire Wednesday that the project is part of the utility’s investment in public EV charging stations and other transportation electrification projects throughout the service area, which roughly covers the area from Shoreline to Burien.
“These investments will help the region achieve greenhouse gas emission reduction and environmental goals and support the fight against climate change,” Orenberg said.
He added that the Market Street project is the first of its kind by City Light in which the utility will provide the required civil and electrical infrastructure and private EV charging station operators will lease the space to install and operate their own chargers.
“We do not currently have plans to use other City Light properties for similar “make-ready” projects,” Orenberg said.
City Light has installed 16 fast chargers at six charging stations in Tukwila, West Seattle, Madison-Miller, Magnuson Park, SODO, and North Beacon Hill. At least five additional City Light-owned fast charging stations are planned for construction in 2021 and 2022 to expand coverage throughout the area and, according to Orenberg, “ensure equitable access to charging infrastructure.”
This map shows the City Light-owned fast charging stations.
The Ballard site will have room for 14 EV charging spaces, each of which can charge one vehicle at a time. The charging station companies will decide if and how much to charge customers. For its part, Seattle City Light charges a fee for the use of its EV chargers, designed to pay for the cost of the electricity and repay the initial investment over the expected useful life of the equipment.
While charging stations owned and operated by Tesla have become a more frequent site because of that automaker’s investment in the infrastructure, other EV makers are turning to third party operators to fill that need, according to a previous report in Automotive News. Some of those companies include EVgo, ChargePoint and Electrify America.
Construction is planned for later this summer and expected to last about three months. Public comments are being accepted until March 19 and can be directed to this City Light email address.
