Electric vehicles are in high demand in San Francisco, but most of the city’s residents live in homes that can’t utilize the cheapest and most convenient way of charging them — a home charger. 

That’s because most people in the city live in multi-family housing that doesn’t have off-street parking or private garages. 

The city is trying to bring more accessibility and affordability to EV owners by next year by creating a pilot program to install public curbside chargers throughout the city. 

Charging at home overnight can be the cheapest way to power an electric vehicle, or EV, because of incentives from PG&E. But about 70 percent of city residents don’t have home charging options, according to the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency. 

County Supervisor Rafael Mandelman announced a resolution Tuesday that offers support for a forthcoming feasibility assessment from the SFMTA, San Francisco Environment Department and other agencies for installing public curbside chargers. 

The departments will also conduct a public outreach campaign and create a framework for a pilot program that could begin next year. 

“Although demand for EVs in San Francisco is triple the national average, the majority of San Franciscans reside in multi-unit housing without access to off-street or home charging spots,” Mandelman said.  

“This EV curbside charging initiative is an opportunity to accelerate the transition to EVs by making more public chargers available, thereby moving us closer to our emission reduction goals,” he said. 

In 2023, about 37 percent of vehicles sold in the city were zero-emissions electric vehicles. Nationwide, EVs represented about 7.6 percent of all auto sales, according to Mandelman’s resolution. 

The feasibility study should be complete by June and a report will be presented to the board of supervisors by the end of the year. Charging stations could then be installed sometime in 2025, according to an SFMTA spokesman. 

This EV curbside charging initiative is an opportunity to accelerate the transition to EVs by making more public chargers available, thereby moving us closer to our emission reduction goals. Supervisor Rafael Mandelman

The city has a goal of installing 5,000 public chargers by 2030. There are currently 1,193 in the city, according to the SFMTA. 

Supporters of the effort to install curbside chargers include the Golden Gate EV Association, the environmental advocacy nonprofit Acterra, the EV Charging for All Coalition, and California Environmental Voters, known as Envirovoters. 

Leaders of the nonprofit organizations gathered with SFMTA Director Jeffrey Tumlin and Supervisor Mandelman on the steps of city hall at a Tuesday morning press conference. They urged the city to advance its public EV charging capacity and support the first step in launching a pilot program. 

“Curbside charging is one of the tools needed until the day all multifamily housing has access to power for cars,” said Co-Founder of Golden Gate EV Association Marc Geller, “Golden Gate EV Association is proud to support this initiative to ensure we have more robust EV charging infrastructure for EV owners across San Francisco.” 

The SFMTA will begin community and stakeholder outreach this month and is currently working on a webpage with more details about the project.