San Francisco launches curbside EV charging pilot program – NBC Bay Area

The city of San Francisco is starting a pilot program to boost curbside electric vehicle or EV charging.

The city is hoping the program will have everyone to consider turning from gas to electric vehicles.

“For that to be a thing, that is accessible to folks other than the very wealthiest we need to have places where people can charge, for a lot of renters if the building doesn’t have a charging station in it may not be realistic it’s a struggle,” said San Francisco Supervisor Rafael Mandelman.

Mandelman said San Francisco currently has about 1,000 publicly available chargers.

“I think we need about 5,000 for what we anticipate will be the need over the next decade or so we got work to do, so we think 1,500 of those ought to come from curbside chargers so this pilot gets us moving in that direction which we need,” he said.

Under the program, EV charging providers are being encouraged to apply online to be part of the curbside pilot program. The city says last year 37% of all local new car sales were EV’s or plug in hybrids.

“We’re going to learn from trying to get these first chargers on the sidewalk what the issues are,” said

San Francisco resident Kate Brady has an electric car and says more chargers could help make sure the “electric trend” is available to more people.

“It makes sure people who are in an apartment that aren’t going to have easy access to a charging station, people who have different income levels can afford an electric car,” she said.