(Image: Electrify America)
By Jethro Swain
Already home to the greenest office building in the world and still set to be transformed by 2024 into a transportation corridor optimized for public bus transit, Seattle’s efforts to add more infrastructure for electric cars are driving a new construction project in the surface parking lot of a Capitol Hill bank.
Electrify America, a nationwide electric vehicle charging station company, is constructing a new Seattle charging station in Capitol Hill at 1300 E Madison St in the parking lot of the Bank of America branch currently closed due to COVID-19 restrictions.
The Madison station is projected to open this summer, Electrify America told CHS, and it will have four DC (direct current) fast chargers that can charge capable vehicles at up to 150kW. Electrify America stations normally have at least one (often two) CCS and one CCS-CHAdeMO style chargers, the two of which together cover almost all types of electric vehicles. Many of their chargers in metropolitan areas, including the majority of the ones around Seattle, also include a level 2 charger.
Electrify America is an expanding company that has 556 live locations across the country with 143 more coming soon, according to their website. They currently have two fast charging locations open in the city of Seattle, and more than 300 open stations across the state of Washington. Electrify America is planning on building six other stations in the city of Seattle, including a few near downtown including one in Ballard, the U-District, and Queen Anne, to go along with the Capitol Hill station.
The parking lot off E Madison, where the charging station has been approved by the City of Seattle and welcomed by Bank of America, is currently unused by customers and the construction for the charging stations is underway.
The stations will be placed in the middle of the parking lot, and there is an entrance to the lot from both E Pike and E Madison.
Electrify America’s expansion into the center of Seattle highlights Seattle’s continued push to encourage electric vehicles and the need for a stable infrastructure for electric vehicle charging stations. The priority of Electrify America, according to them, is to expand access to fast charging in metro areas and along major highway routes. They also put their resources into a “future-proof” network by deploying exclusively 150kW and 350kW chargers, which are the fastest speeds available currently. Continue reading
