Seattle mayor wants his city to be on bleeding edge of EVs
Seattle mayor Greg Nickels is a fan of electric vehicles and wants his constituents to feel the same way. In recent months, the Pacific Northwest city has signed a deal with Nissan to be one of the first locations to get its upcoming electric vehicles and Nickels wants to rapidly build out an infrastructure to support them and other plug-ins. The city owns it's own power utility and was the first to become at least nominally carbon neutral. The energy it doesn't get from hydroelectric dams has been offset or conserved in other ways.
Seattle has also streamlined the permitting process for installation of 220V charging stations in city residences. The local building codes are also being modified to mandate adequate electrical capacity for charging in all new home construction. Nickels has also applied for federal funding to help pay for the installation of 1,000 charging stations around Seattle, including some fast charge locations. Thanks to Clayton for the tip!
Gallery: Quick Drive: Nissan EV-02 prototype
[Source: Gas2.org]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
contact 9:32PM (7/10/2009)
Sounds like someone is able to read the writing on the wall and wants to be ahead of the curve. Congrats to Seattle.
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atc98092 10:19PM (7/10/2009)
As chance mentioned above, us who live near Seattle (can't pay me to live there) know Greg Nickels is a joke that isn't funny. He says many great things that either he never follows through with, or he spews nonsense that makes the rest of us cringe.
You want him, take him...
Stew 12:57AM (7/11/2009)
As another person living just outside of Seattle, and like atc98092 said, I will NEVER live in Seattle or King County for that matter, ever again. I'm in Snohomish County and that's as close as I'll get. Good luck to him in his new position with Obama though.
Stew
Nozferat 5:40PM (7/10/2009)
This is excellent. I wish more city mayors and governors had the open-mindedness and forward thinking attitude that this guy does. I'd love to live in a city (such as Vancouver or Seattle) that embraces such new technologies as part of their infrastructure.
It's about freaking time.
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Geoff de Ruiter 7:06PM (7/10/2009)
With the news from Vancouver today, all the new battery producers, and of course EVs here and coming in the next two years, it has begun. I can see the run-away effect starting.
One thing I hope will now come is that the power companies will get going on placing their own fast charging stations along highways, in cities/communities and suburbs. Just like gas stations but smaller direct from the generator/supplier. Oil would not be able to match their prices even if they did want to incorporate a similar system to sell "juice" at their stations (I always have a funny thought of people saying they "need to pick up some juice for their car"). It could just be called "power" too :P
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Chance 6:53PM (7/10/2009)
I live just outside of Seattle and I can tell you that Mayor Nickels is wonderful man who has great sense of fiscal responsibility. Every decision that he seems to make is grounded firmly in reason and sobriety. He is not irrationally driven by his ideology and he ABSOLUTELY does not put the well-fare of seagulls above his own hungry and largely unemployed citizenry.
BTW: Today = Opposite Day.
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MarcV 2:45AM (7/11/2009)
Okay, I've got to stick up for Greg- I must say i'm a bit surprised at the anti-Nickels sentiment. I've served side-by-side with him volunteering at homeless shelters and other public service projects. I can remember when the focus of this town was not so green and although he's not perfect, he has done a lot of good for the City and the country through his efforts. Some highlights:
* He was instrumental in forming the US Mayors Climate Protection Agreement during the Bush years.
* Restaurant styrofoam ban
* Hefty surcharge on plastic grocery bags
* Expansion of what has become one of the best municipal recycling programs in the world
* Seattle City Light has one of the largest PHEV Prius fleets in the country and is helping gather usage data.
Isn't is a good thing to have several progressive big City US mayors working together to "out EV" eachother? It will only make it happen that much sooner.
By comparison to King County, I don't think Snohomish will have very many EV's until they are offered with an option for gun racks and lift kits.
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Stew 12:17PM (7/11/2009)
Lol, MarcV, you will find just as many gun racks and big lifted 4x4s in Enumclaw, North Bend and Skykomish (all in King County) as you will in any part of Snohomish County.
I am more outspoken than most for EVs (I even actually have the Plug In America bumper sticker on my Hyundai Accent - do you?) and my personal goal of off grid living, just not a fan of anything King County.
Take care,
Stew
Nick 1:46PM (7/11/2009)
I would never consider living outside of Seattle, why would anyone want to live in small-town redneck city anyway?
Congrats to Greg.
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Stew 3:28PM (7/11/2009)
Tacoma, Redmond, Bellevue, Kirkland, Lynnwood and Everett, are not small-town redneck cities, yet are outside of Seattle. There are some who just don't find the vast amounts of concrete, traffic, hustle-bustle and huge buildings of large cities desirable.
But more importantly, self sustaining lifestyles like off-grid living, vegetable garden, etc are typically more compatible with smaller towns.
That is what makes this country great though, you can live in a big city because that's what you like, and I can live in a smaller town because that's what I like.
Stew