(The Center Square) – Seattle could spend the next 14 years recovering initial costs from a $3 million electric vehicle charging program, before operating expenses, as officials eye a $21 million expansion.
The Seattle Department of Transportation and Seattle City Light announced plans last week to install up to 200 new curbside charging stations by 2030, funded by the 2024 voter-approved transportation levy. A $3 million pilot program in 2023-24 installed 58 chargers at 31 locations, and demand is rising.
SDOT Deputy Press Secretary Mariam Ali said $21 million of the levy’s electrification funding will cover the expansion. The goal is to cover annual operating costs for electricity, maintenance and repairs with a $0.21-per-kilowatt-hour fee to use the chargers, while offsetting the initial purchase and installation.
“Final program costs may change as the work moves forward,” Ali responded via email to an interview request regarding the $21 million charger expansion. “The fees are designed to pay for the electricity, operations, maintenance, and repair costs while offsetting the initial purchase and installation costs.”
From Oct. 12, 2025 to last week, the city’s curbside chargers averaged two sessions per charger per day, according to Kate Jacobs, media relations manager for Seattle City Light. She said some are used up to six times per day, with the national average at 0.42 sessions per day for public Level 2 chargers.
Jacobs said Seattle City Light couldn’t accommodate an interview, but explained in an email that over the past 12 months, the 58 existing EV chargers delivered more than 1 million kWh of electricity.
She said the average price across the 31 locations was $96,433 and $51,541 per charger. The cost of equipment, materials, and construction averaged $60,451 per location and $32,309 per charger, with planning, engineering, design and other components tied to launching a new program making up the rest.
“The 58 curbside chargers hosted nearly 45,000 charging sessions and delivered more than 1 million kilowatt-hours of electricity, enough to power roughly 3 million miles of electric driving,” Jacobs wrote. “Charger availability or uptime in 2025 across our charger network averaged approximately 97%.”
Roughly 1 million kWh charged at $0.21 per kWh would generate roughly $210,000 in revenue, before covering ongoing operating costs for electricity, maintenance, repairs and other expenses. That means it could take taxpayers about 14.3 years to recover the initial costs under the $3 million pilot program.
The $210,000 in revenue, based on Jacob’s numbers, would represent 7 cents of annual gross revenue for every $1 spent upfront; however, that’s only an estimate based on the charger fee and usage data.
The $21 million expansion could face a similar cost-recovery period, assuming average charger usage and fees match the pilot; Jacob’s numbers put the estimated average revenue at $3,621 per charger annually.
Jacobs said she’s gathering data to show how much charger-fee revenue has been collected so far and whether Seattle City Light expects to recoup the investment before it needs to replace those chargers.
Ali said Seattle selects charger locations based on how many people could benefit from it and whether that given area, including apartments, businesses and other locations, already has chargers available.
“The program will also prioritize areas where residents have limited access to charging, including neighborhoods that have historically received less investment,” Ali told The Center Square via email.
The application period remains open through fall 2027, with installations taking place through 2030.