Washington, D.C. – Today, Ranking Member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) applauded the Department of Energy’s (DOE) announcement that the City of Seattle Department of Transportation will receive a $1.9 million grant to accelerate the use of electric vehicles (EVs) in Seattle.

This grant will help Eluminocity, an electric vehicle infrastructure company, partner with the City of Seattle to help increase the supply of fast charging stations throughout the city, with a specific focus on the integration of charging stations into shared mobility, such as with ride sharing services like Uber or Lyft. In total, this grant is expected to help displace 2.5 million gallons of gasoline and save the equivalent of 15,000 metric tons of carbon emissions.

The Seattle grant is a part of larger DOE investment in community-based advanced transportation projects. The DOE awarded a total of $13.4 million to support five new cost-share, community-based projects. These projects are focused on energy efficient mobility systems including connected and autonomous vehicles and alternative fuel vehicles and infrastructure including natural gas, propane, biofuels, hydrogen, and electricity.

This grant was a part of the Department of Energy’s Vehicle Technologies Office. In June of this year, Senator Cantwell, along with Senator Murkowski (R-Alaska) introduced the Energy and Natural Resources Act of 2017 (S. 1460). This broad, bipartisan legislation includes a reauthorization of the Vehicle Technologies Office with increased funding to support domestic research, development, and commercialization of advanced and electric vehicle technologies to continue to support projects and grants like the one awarded to the City of Seattle.

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