San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie announced new legislation this week that would allow for more curbside electric vehicle chargers on city streets and would create an online permitting process to save time and red tape.
Following a pilot program last April that installed a few curbside chargers across the city, the new legislation is a way to increase the opportunities for residents to charge their vehicles without having to access garages or parking lots away from their homes and businesses.
Lurie said San Francisco has seen a dramatic increase in electric car ownership and the demand for EV infrastructure will increase alongside it. He said the city has a goal to install 100 additional curbside chargers across the city by 2030 to meet demand and encourage more EVs on city streets.
“This legislation will expand access to reliable charging, especially for renters and people who live in apartment buildings,” said Lurie. “That means less paperwork and less time navigating the bureaucracy. If we want San Francisco to lead in EV technology, we have to build the infrastructure that supports it.”
San Francisco Board of Supervisors President Rafael Mandelman talked about the importance of making the city more environmentally friendly. He said public transit is crucial to move thousands of people, but acknowledged some individuals may need other options.
“There will be people who need to have cars, and when they have those cars in San Francisco, we need those cars to be electric vehicles, and not everybody has a charger in their own garage,” said Mandelman. “This needs to be a thing that is available and accessible to people who live in buildings that do not have those garage chargers.”
Local resident Ashkan Javaherian said he was elated to see new chargers pop up in his neighborhood due to the pilot program after he had been considering selling his EV. As a renter, he said it was impractical to charge his car because he didn’t have a space close to home and found it cumbersome to find one inside a paid garage.
“In practice, owning an EV in San Francisco is mostly for people who own their own home and have a garage,” said Javaherian. “In a city where so many residents are renters, that’s just not an equitable solution. Today’s announcement is just going to make it a lot easier for people like me to own an EV in the city.”
For more information visit sf.gov/permitsf.