Bellevue Square, Lincoln Square Install Electric Vehicle Charging Stations

Customers at , and will be able to charge electric cars while they shop and dine, after the launch of 15 new electric vehicle charging stations in parking lots.

With a fleet of Nissan LEAFs and Tesla Roadsters, the Bellevue Collection announced the installation Tuesday of the 15 charging stations throughout its properties at the corner of NE 8th St and Bellevue Way NE.

Customers of the shops and tenants in Bellevue Collection's office towers had asked Kemper Development Company to have a place to charge electric cars, said Glen Bachman, Bellevue Collection vice president of retail operations.

"We began to get requests as early as two years ago," Bachman said. Some of the requests came from owners of Tesla Roadsters, the sporty high-end all-electric car.

"The Tesla owners on the Eastside asked us to have a place to charge their cars. I see their cars here daily," Bachman said.

Some of the Bellevue Collection's business tenants also made requests for charging stations as they aimed to meet the LEED certification, a environmental responsibility standard set by the U.S. Green Building Council, Bachman said.

Tyler Marshall of Kirkland, owner of a Nissan LEAF, said that it's a great convenience to have the charging stations at Bellevue Square.

"Of course, I'm doing most of my charging overnight at home," he said. "But if I'm having lunch here on the weekend, and someone calls me, I can be topped off and we can go somewhere."

The convenience is in stark contrast to 10 years ago, when Marshall first tried to get a General Motors EV1 - one of the first modern commercially available electric vehicles - and was turned away at the dealership. (General Motors had limited availability of the EV1 to certain Saturn dealerships in California and Georgia, and they were only available by lease.)

"They were selling so few of them, the dealership didn't even know that Saturn sold them," he said.

Marshall, who commutes between his home in Kirkland and his work in Lynnwood, bought his LEAF in January and said that it cost $12 in February to fuel his LEAF.

But now electric cars and charging stations are becoming increasingly commonplace in the Northwest. Seattle was one of the markets where Nissan launched the all-electric LEAF sedan. Tesla, a car manufacturer that only makes electric cars, has a dealership in Seattle where the sporty Roadsters have been doing well. The company, which has sold 1,500 Roadsters worldwide, plans to launch a sedan soon, said Tesla spokeswoman Khobi Brooklyn.

There are now almost 100 Cuolomb Charge Point charging stations in Washington and Oregon, accoding to the ChargePoint Network's station locator. According to the station locator, Bellevue Square, Lincoln Square and Bellevue Place together have the largest concentration of ChargePoint network's stations in the northwest. Several local businesses have installed or will install ChargePoint stations for their employees, including Nintendo, Microsoft and Puget Sound Energy, said Jim Blaisdell of Woodinville-based Charge Northwest, which distributes the charging stations throughout Washington.

Customers use their accounts to hook up to the charging stations, and it is up to each location to decide on how much to charge, Blaisdell said. Bellevue Square charges $2 per hour to plug in, but other locations have set different amounts, he said. Bachman said that at $2 an hour, the Bellevue Collection, which paid for its charging stations, expects to break even.

Coulomb has already installed a public charging station at Bellevue City Hall, which drivers can use while doing business at City Hall.

Shop and Charge

The fifteen locations at The Bellevue Collection featuring the networked electric vehicle (EV) charging stations are in the following locations:

•  5 ports in the West Garage on the 2nd level near sky bridge #2
• 4 ports in the Northeast Garage, 1st floor near Nordstrom
• 4 in the Lincoln Square Garage on the 1st level (P1)
• 2 ports in the Bellevue Place Garage on the 1st level (P1)

Business grants available

Coulomb’s ChargePoint America program has been installing 4,600 free charging stations in nine regions in the United States, including Austin, Los Angeles, New York, Florida, Sacramento, San Francisco Bay Area, Washington, DC, and southern Michigan.

Other local businesses who are interested in a charging station may qualify for grants, through Coulomb’s $37 million ChargePoint America program, which installs charging stations for free. Businesses interested in free ChargePoint stations can visit http://www.chargepointamerica.com to apply.