City Council voted 6-1, with one excused absence, Monday night to approve a grant that will fund the addition of 45 dual-plug charging stations throughout Bellingham.
The $1.5 million Electrification of Transportation grant from the Washington State Department of Commerce will fund the project, which will bring a total of 90 new plugs to properties owned and managed by the city, including parks and facilities.
An additional $500,000 from the voter-approved transportation fund will support charging station construction.
Bringing additional EV charging kiosks to city property is one of the goals of Bellingham’s Six-Year Transportation Improvement Program that is aimed, in part, at mitigating the climate impacts of transportation.
Several of the proposed charging stations will be DC fast charging; others will be powered by solar energy.
Proposed stations where access to power already exists will be installed later this year, Councilman Michael Lilliquist said in a Facebook post. Charging stations proposed at locations not yet connected to the grid will be built at a later date.
