Electric car charging stations could be coming to Thurston County parks and trailheads, thanks to a budding partnership between the county and Puget Sound Energy (PSE).
“We’re pursuing, what we think, is a really cool partnership opportunity,” Thurston County Public Works Director Karen Weiss said at Wednesday’s County Board of Commissioners work session.
PSE would cover the entire cost to install the EV chargers. PSE would also provide staff and crew to install the stations. The chargers would be owned, operated and maintained by PSE.
The next step in the venture is getting public feedback to help the county pin down exactly where they want to put the electric vehicle stations. After getting public feedback, the county would start officially determining locations for the stations.
Despite PSE covering the installation, people using the chargers will still have to pay to use the chargers. No rate has been determined yet.
“We haven’t covered that part yet, it was more just a feeling out process,” said Thurston County Parks Operations and Maintenance Manager Ed Marson. “We’ll get into more of that detail as we progress forward.”
County officials are targeting highly used parks with parking lots. Transformers would need to be installed at the parks to deliver power to the chargers.
One potential location is the westernmost parking lot in Burfoot Park, where PSE would install a streetlight with two charging ports. Other locations in the mix include Kennydale park, Chehalis Western Trail and Tenino City Park.
The final locations would depend on the public feedback they receive.
“They’re looking for feedback on how many electric vehicles do we have in a certain area or radius around this area, what interest is there with that,” Marson said. “But if there aren’t a lot of electric vehicles out there or going to that park, then maybe it’s not a feasible option for them.”
PSE recently worked with several cities in Washington state to install EV chargers, including Tumwater and Burien, according to Marson.
Electric cars have been having a boom in the state recently.
In Washington state, there are over 280,000 EV on roads, according to a May report from the state, compared to just over 60,000 in 2020.
As of 2024, Thurston County has over 8,000 electric cars, making it the fifth county with the most EVs. That is up by 5,000 four years prior, according to data from the Washington State Department of Transportation.
