Re: “Seattle gets 31 new EV chargers, none in south Rainier Valley” [May 8, Local News]:
It is very disappointing to me that despite being the most adversely affected by climate change, low-income communities are often disregarded when it comes to moves for sustainability. The notion that electric vehicles are predominantly for the middle and upper-class is a self-perpetuating cycle, as is exemplified by the scarcity of EV chargers in South Seattle. Given that renting is often the only housing option for those who are low-income, providing accessible EV charging to those living in multifamily housing is essential if EVs are not only going to be the vehicles of wealthy homeowners.
Washington plans to ban the sale of gas cars by 2035. I thus urge multifamily housing units to consider how they are preparing for a future in which a majority of renters drive electric vehicles. People who have EVs do not want to live where there is nowhere to charge them, so why delay the widespread addition of EV chargers to apartment complexes and rental properties? Now is the time to make EV chargers ubiquitous.
Megan Bultman, Sammamish
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