San Francisco Moves to Expand Curbside Electric Vehicle Charging

In a majority-renter city like San Francisco, the prospect of electric vehicle ownership presents a conundrum: Without access to private parking spots, where are people supposed to charge their vehicles?

Aiming to address that issue, San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie on Tuesday introduced legislation that would create a permitting pathway to expand the city’s curbside electric vehicle charging program.

“ For the first time, San Francisco will have a clear process to allow curbside EV chargers to be built across neighborhoods,” Lurie said at a press conference on Tuesday.

He added that his proposal would expand reliable charging access, “especially for renters and people who live in apartment buildings.”

Lurie and other top city officials announced the legislation next to two Duboce Triangle neighborhood curbside chargers, which have been in use since last April as part of a curbside EV charger pilot program.

He said the city’s goal is to install 100 curbside chargers by 2030.

If passed, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency would be the lead permitting agency for the program, and is set to begin accepting applications from curbside charging providers this summer.

SFMTA Director of Transportation Julie Kirschbaum said the chargers would be privately funded.

“ The permit will enable us to solicit proposals from EV charging companies,” Kirschbaum said. “Based on the pilot, we believe there is a lot of interest in this area and that this is a viable investment for companies to make.”

The SFMTA would set expectations on performance and proposed locations of future chargers, Kirschbaum said.

Supporters of the mayor’s proposal said the legislation would help San Francisco achieve its goal of net-zero emissions by 2040, laid out in the city’s Climate Action Plan, and increase equity in electric vehicle ownership. The city is also working to transition its own fleet of vehicles to electric.

“ I was actually close to selling my EV when I discovered the curbside pilot program run by the city,” said Ashkan Javaherian, a Duboce Triangle resident. Javaherian said the neighborhood’s curbside chargers, which he regularly uses, changed his mind.

“In practice, owning an EV in San Francisco is only realistic for people who own their home and have a garage,” Javaherian said. “In a city where so many residents are renters, that’s just not an equitable solution.”

At the curbside EV chargers in his neighborhood, a full charge on his EV costs $14, whereas a faster charger at a private parking lot or a grocery store might cost about 25% more, plus possible parking fees.

Susan Green, a volunteer on the steering committee of the San Francisco Climate Emergency Coalition, said that private-public partnerships will be key for the city to realize its net-zero climate goals.

“The city doesn’t actually have to fund the installation of these chargers,” Green said, adding that the city’s broader net-zero emissions goal will cost “billions of dollars.”

Green’s coalition has been advocating “for years” for the city to expand EV charging infrastructure, she said, adding that San Francisco is lagging behind others like Los Angeles and New York City.

According to Ben Jones, a product engineer with the curbside EV charging company It’s Electric, the two Duboce Triangle chargers are actively charging electric vehicles more than 70% of the time.

Although it’s been established that drivers can receive tickets if they park non-electric vehicles in the charging spots, how long electric vehicle owners are allowed to keep their vehicles in a charging spot once their battery is full remains a gray area.

“ We don’t expect somebody to come out in the middle of the night and move their car,” Kirschbaum said. “We’re going to try as much as possible to just apply some common sense rules to keep it fair for everyone.”

Javaherian said he hasn’t yet encountered this kind of problem with the shared charging spot.

When it’s in use, he parks somewhere else. “Then, I come back and check on it, and then I get it,” Javaherian said.

But, he added, as more people in the city get EVs, “We’re gonna need more of these, which is why it’s so important for the city to expand EV charging.”