Electric Bus Photo Source: Photo taken by SCL staff

Gas- and diesel-powered vehicles create polluted air that causes cancer and asthma, increases damage from climate change, and the cost of fueling up changes from day to day. Switching to electric transportation options powered by City Light’s carbon-neutral energy could reduce our region’s greenhouse gas emissions by more than 60% and bring cleaner air, new jobs, and lower transportation costs.

As more people start to use electric cars, trucks, ferries, buses, and trains, we need more convenient places for vehicles to charge. Seattle City Light is investing in charging infrastructure, improving our power grid to meet increased electricity demand, and working with many public and private sector partners to electrify all the modes of transportation that our customers rely on.

Our Transportation Electrification Strategic Investment Plan outlines City Light's investment priorities led by feedback we have heard from communities that experience the most health and environmental harms from fossil fuel use.

How We Can Help

Leading with Equity

Environmental justice communities—including communities of color, immigrants, refugees, people with low incomes, youth, and English language learners—are disproportionately affected by emissions from the transportation sector. To counteract the negative impacts these communities have faced and continue to face, our transportation electrification strategy leads with equity. All communities deserve access to the benefits that electric transportation can bring, like cleaner air, new jobs, and lower transportation costs.

City Light strives to incorporate and elevate the voices of people communities who have traditionally been excluded in transportation electrification planning and development. Through partnerships with community-based organizations, we regularly listen and learn from community members about their needs and values for electrifying transportation options. By centering communities experiencing environmental inequities, our collaborative outreach and engagement can result in solutions that meet the needs of all our customers.

Powerlines News: Electrifying Seattle Transportation

Transportation Electrification Blueprint Brought Electric Regional Busing, EV Charging Stations, Greener Streets, and more to Seattle in 2023
Transportation is Seattle’s leading cause of climate pollution. It accounts for nearly two thirds of the City’s Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. Unsust
Posted Apr. 17
City Light and King County Metro Break Ground on New Electric Bus Base
On March 6, 2024, King County Metro hosted a groundbreaking event on their first 100% electric bus base. This new base will support 120 all-electric b
Posted Mar. 14
Seattle City Light Joins EPRI Initiative to Support Widescale National EV Rollout
Earlier this month, the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) announced EVs2Scale2030™, a three-year initiative designed to support the widescale r
Posted Aug. 29
An EV at a City Light charging station getting a fill up of an electrical charge.
City Light Joins MTRWestern, Amtrak and WSDOT to Unveil First-Ever Electric Bus in the Amtrak National Network
Yesterday, Seattle City Light joined partners from across the state to unveil the first-ever electric bus in the Amtrak National Network as it prepare
Posted Aug. 17
Updates on Seattle’s Clean Transportation Electrification Blueprint
Transportation is the primary contributor to greenhouse gas emissions driving climate change in Seattle. Pollution from transportation degrades air an
Posted Jun. 28
Event at Estelita’s Library Unveils First Electric ADA Carshare Van in Washington State
On June 17, members of the community came to the Estelita’s Library Juneteenth Celebration to enjoy food, music, a book swap, and unveil ZEV co-opR
Posted Jun. 22

City Light

Dawn Lindell, Interim General Manager and CEO
Address: 700 5th Ave, Seattle, WA, 98104
Mailing Address: PO Box 34023, Seattle, WA, 98124-4023
Phone: (206) 684-3000
SCL_ExternalComms@seattle.gov

Seattle City Light was created by the citizens of Seattle in 1902 to provide affordable, reliable, and environmentally responsible electric power to the City of Seattle and neighboring suburbs.