Drafter
Clerk 03/31/2010
title
AN ORDINANCE relating to the development and use of electric vehicle charging stations at King County facilities.
body
STATEMENT OF FACTS:
1. Greenhouse gas emissions related to transportation constitute fifty percent of all greenhouse gas emissions in the state of Washington. Because hydroelectricity is a clean source of energy and accounts for sixty-six percent of Washington's electricity production, the use of electricity to power a vehicle, instead of gasoline, is cheaper and less polluting.
2. King County has been a leader in utilizing new technologies in the transportation sector to help reduce operating costs and reduce its environmental impact on our region. As of 2009, King County's fleet, which refers to vehicles in the motor pool program and vehicles in each department's fleet, has two hundred five flex-fuel vehicles, five converted plug-in hybrid vehicles, sixty-eight neighborhood-electric vehicles, three medium-duty hybrid trucks, one hundred seventy-seven light-duty hybrid vehicles and two compressed natural-gas vehicles.
3. On December 10, 2007, the King County council adopted Ordinance 15988 to promote clean vehicle technology in King County's fleet. As a result, King County participated in a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle pilot project with Idaho National Labs to convert four county-owned hybrid Toyota Priuses to plug-in electric vehicles.
4. On May 5, 2008, the King County council approved Motion 12744 to reduce global warming and to support plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and battery-electric vehicles. As of now, King County has installed twenty-nine plug-in vehicle charging stations in various locations at park-and-ride and King County fleet facilities, and the county is continuing to explore additional locations for new plug-in stations.
5. On February 9, 2009, the King County council approved Motion 12921 endorsing the King County Electric Vehicle Report as the guiding document for implementing actions to accommodate the use of plug-in hybrid electric-vehicles and battery electric vehicles, and to promote energy efficiency and clean vehicle technology in King County's fleet. This document established actions the county should pursue to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, detailed King County's efforts in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and provided detailed information on the current status of plug-in hybrid and electric vehicle technologies.
6. In 2007 King County Metro Transit launched the Plug-and-Ride pilot project to promote the use of existing vehicle charging stations at park-and-ride facilities. This early iteration of a plug-in electric charging station project already provides outlets for electric vehicles at three park-and-ride facilities: Issaquah Highlands Park-and-Ride; Eastgate Park-and-Ride in Bellevue; and the Redmond Park-and-Ride. The fleet division also has charging stations at the Goat Hill garage. Currently, there is minimal regulation regarding the use of the existing charging facilities.
7. King County owns, leases or partners with other organizations to provide parking facilities for other county transportation programs. These programs include the park-and-ride program, the vanpool and vanshare programs, and the county's motor pool program and departmental fleet. The park-and-ride program promotes the use of King County Metro Transit by providing parking for privately owned vehicles near or at transit service. The vanpool and vanshare programs provide an operating cost-neutral, low environmental impact mode of transportation.
8. The King County executive approved the proposed use of $700,000 from the United States Department of Energy Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grants program to construct publicly accessible charging stations throughout the county. The grant award for this block grant is currently pending from the United States Department of Energy. On August 26, 2009, the Puget Sound Clean Cities coalition, including King County, was awarded another $700,000 from the United States Department of Energy Clean Cities grant program to construct publicly accessible charging stations throughout the county, and King County will receive a significant portion of these moneys. On August 5, 2009, the Electric Transportation Engineering Corporation ("eTeC") and Nissan received a 98-million-dollar national grant from the United States Department of Energy Transportation Electrification program, and King County is one of the participants in that proposal. Under this proposal, King County will receive one or more free charging stations from eTeC for each Nissan electric vehicle purchased. Among other entities that are receiving or dedicating funding to these efforts, the City of Seattle will receive $500,000 and the city of Bellevue will receive $84,000, in the development and installation of charging stations in their jurisdictions.
9. In seeking grant awards and partnerships to increase the number of electric vehicle charging stations throughout the region, King County has been coordinating with public utility companies and local jurisdictions to identify potential charging station locations.
10. With the emerging market for plug-in electric vehicles, new industry standards have been adopted to ensure universal compatibility between vehicle manufacturers. Broad-based installation of new universally compatible charging stations will ensure that plug-in electric vehicles will remain a viable alternative to gasoline-powered vehicles.
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF KING COUNTY
SECTION 1. King County will implement an electric vehicle charging station program commencing upon approval of this ordinance and necessary budget authority. In three years, the King County council will consider continuation of the program based on affordability, usage of the charging stations, cost recovery and whether it has satisfactory returns of public benefit. The program will advance the countywide installation of electric vehicle charging stations at county-owned, leased or partnering organizations' public facilities to serve a direct county purpose while reducing environmental impacts and operating costs. A direct county purpose includes promoting the use of county programs or facilities, including the use of public transit, the vanpool program and the vanshare program, and the county fleet motor pool program. To serve a direct county purpose, charging station installation may occur at King County owned park-and-ride facilities, vanpool destination parking sites, vanshare origin and destination parking sites and King County fleet parking facilities. In addition, a secondary benefit of encouraging the public to use electric vehicles and reducing the region's overall environmental impacts will be realized by allowing public access to charging facilities when facilities are not being used for a direct county purpose.
SECTION 2. The program may install electric vehicle charging stations at locations where a direct county purpose will be served. These locations are:
A. County-owned park-and-ride facilities where the majority of charging station use will take place before 10:00 a.m.;
B. County-owned, leased or partnering organizations' vanpool destination sites where the majority of charging station use will be for peak-period commuters;
C. County-owned, leased or partnering organizations' vanshare origin parking sites where the majority of charging station use will be for night and weekend parking, and destination parking sites where the majority of charging station use will be during the day; and
D. King County fleet facility parking locations.
SECTION 3. The program will provide public benefits by granting the general public access to non-park-and-ride charging stations when the stations are not being used to serve a direct county purpose as identified in section 2 of this ordinance, and all-day access to charging stations at park-and-rides. This will maximize the daily use of the charging stations and encourage the public to use electric vehicles, thereby reducing the region's overall environmental impacts. The locations and the periods of time when the general public may use the charging stations are:
A. All regular hours of operation for park and ride facilities;
B. Monday through Friday, after 6:00 p.m. or on weekends at county-owned, leased or partnering organizations' vanpool destination sites when spaces would normally remain empty;
C. At county-owned, leased or partnering organizations' vanshare origin sites during weekday day-time periods when spaces would normally remain empty or be filled by nonelectric vehicles driven by the general public, and vanshare destination sites at nights and on weekends when spaces would normally remain empty;
D. At county fleet parking facilities when county vehicles vacate spaces on a daily basis;
E. Time restrictions for public access to these facilities may be modified as needed; and
F. Include signage or other method of designating when charging stations are available for public use.
SECTION 4. In implementing an electric vehicle charging station program, the county shall establish the following policies:
A. The county shall seek grant funding for capital costs and installation of electric vehicle charging facilities;
B. A maximum of five hundred thousand dollars of county capital moneys may be invested in electric utility upgrades to county properties in support of the program;
C. Operating costs for the project shall be fully recovered through flat-rate, time-based or combination use fees for all vehicles using one of the county-regulated electric vehicle charging stations located on county-owned, leased, or partnering organizations' property. Any such fees will be authorized consistent with K.C.C. chapter 2.99. For the purposes of this subsection, "operating costs" include, but are not limited to, the county's costs of planning, outreach and administration, utility costs related to the charging stations and facility enforcement costs.
D. Any supplemental capital costs in excess of the five-hundred-thousand-dollar maximum that may be incurred by the county, and that are not financed through any grant sources, shall also be fully recovered as part of the use fees;
E. The county shall coordinate with the Puget Sound Regional Council in their planning and development of regulations concerning electric vehicle infrastructure as required by the state Legislature in Chapter 459, Laws of Washington 2009;
F. Beginning in 2011, the executive shall transmit by June 30 of each year an annual report to the council addressing affordability of user fees, usage of the charging stations, cost recovery and public benefit related to King County participants and as compared with other electric vehicle charging station deployments in and around the state of Washington; and
G. The county shall retain the right to procure the services of third party entities to install and operate charging stations. Such services may include:
1. Installing charging stations;
2. Maintaining charging station infrastructure;
3. Managing payments; and
4. Managing and tracking charging facility usage.