How does the WA State Electric Vehicle Charging Law (WAC 51-50-0429) Affect Site Development?

This Blog Post was Originally Published in March of 2023 and Updated in June of 2024

The EV Agenda

In 2021, President Biden announced the Build Back Better Agenda and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal in hopes of investing in the infrastructure, manufacturing, and incentives that we need to grow good-paying, union jobs at home, lead on electric vehicles around the world, and save American consumers money. Along with these actions came the Executive Order to phase out gas vehicles by 2030. Specifically, the order mandates that half of all new vehicles sold in 2030 will be zero-emission vehicles.

In March of 2022, Governor Jay Inslee signed the Move Ahead Washington bill, which includes the Clean Cars 2030 agenda, making Washington State one of the first states to adopt the mandate.

The Demand for EV Infrastructure

The electric vehicle market is expected to grow nearly thirty percent by 2030. With more electric vehicles on the road, the demand for EV Charging Infrastructure is at an all-time high. The Washington State Plan for Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Deployment includes prioritizing the implementation of charging stations along state highways, using federal funding granted from the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program. The NEVI Formula Program is a U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) and Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) funded program that provides funding to certain states to deploy EV charging stations under specific guidelines. Washington State was granted a 5-year funding cycle of $71 million from the NEVI program.

Need to Know:

1. In most cases, all new construction projects with on-site parking will need to include EV charging infrastructure.
2. Parking lots must have ten percent of the total spaces dedicated to EV Charging Stations.
3. The ten percent requirements for EV Charging Stations include the charging conduits, electricity connections and installation of equipment to have a fully functioning charging stall.
4. There are three types of charging requirements: EV Charging Stations, EV Capable Parking, and EV Ready Parking (view the chart below for the differences between each of them).
5. 208/240 V 40-amp electricity is required for all charging stations at a minimum.
6. EV stalls must be in designated areas that are conducive to charging.
7. Electrical rooms and equipment must be included in the overall development and sized to accommodate at least twenty percent of the total parking spaces.
8. Ten percent of accessible parking spaces must be provided with electric vehicle charging stations.
9. Building permits will be subject to requirements depending on the date of submittal.
10. Certain authorities may have additional EV requirements. If you are curious about jurisdictional requirements for your site, please contact us here.

Additions to these requirements went into effect on July 1st, 2023 – read the changes below.

1. There must be additional space capacity for future EV stalls.
2. Occupancy exceptions will be reduced (see chart below).
3. Buildings with less than 10 on-site parking spaces are not required to comply with Section 429.2 (see chart below).
4. Ten percent of accessible parking spaces must be provided with electric vehicle charging stations, as of July 2023, an additional ten percent of accessible spaces must be EV-ready. See the table at the bottom of this page to learn about the difference between EV Charging Stations, EV Ready Parking and EV-Capable Parking.

The difference between EV Charging Stations, EV Ready Parking and EV-Capable Parking:

Implementation – The WA State Electric Vehicle Charging Law (WAC 51-50-0429)

What do the WA State EV Laws mean for development? The law requires all new construction projects where parking is provided to include electric vehicle charging infrastructure. This law went into effect in 2022 as a temporary law that changed on July 1, 2023.

The temporary law stated:

Infrastructure:

Ten percent of parking spaces must be provided with electric vehicle charging stations on all new developments. Exceptions to the law include projects classified under Groups R-3, U, A, E, and M (See group table below).

General:

A minimum of 208/240 V 40-amp, circuit electric vehicle charging stations are required to serve the parking spaces. Charging stations must be located to serve spaces designated for parking and charging electric vehicles. Developments must include additional capacity for future stations.

Load management infrastructure may be used to adjust the size and capacity of the required building electric service equipment and circuits, as allowed by applicable local and national electric codes.

Electrical Rooms & Equipment:

Electrical rooms must be sized to accommodate a minimum of 20% of the total parking spaces. At least 208/240 V 40-amp or equivalent charging stations are required to serve EV parking spaces.

Accessible Parking Spaces:

Ten percent of accessible parking spaces must be provided with electric vehicle charging stations. Charging stations may also serve adjacent parking spaces not designated as accessible parking. A maximum of ten percent of accessible parking spaces are allowed to be included in the total number of electric vehicle parking spaces required.

All parking lot calculations must be rounded to the nearest whole number.

The law that went into effect July 1, 2023, goes as follows:

Infrastructure:

All buildings and accessory structures must offer EV charging stations, EV-ready parking spaces, and EV-capable parking spaces (See Table 429.2). If a building has more than one occupancy, you must calculate the charging stations per occupancy using Table 429.2. Exceptions include projects classified as Group A, E, M (See group table below). On-site parking with less than 10 parking spaces is not required to comply with Section 429.2.

Example:

A strip mall has four occupancies. EV parking must be calculated separately for each separate occupancy. See the chart below to learn more about each occupancy category.

General:

Electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) shall be installed in accordance with applicable requirements of chapter 19.28 RCW and the National Electrical Code, Article 625. Exceptions include spaces with no public/commercial power supply and dwellings without garages or on-site parking.

Electrical Rooms & Equipment:

Electrical service, systems and on-site distribution transformers must have sufficient capacity to simultaneously charge all EVs at all required EV stations, EV parking spaces and EV-capable parking spaces at a minimum of 40 amperes each. An Automatic Load Management System (ALMS) may be used to adjust the maximum electrical capacity required for EV-Ready and EV-Capable parking spaces.

Raceways that are planned to be installed underground or in inaccessible or concealed areas must be installed at the time of original construction.

EV Charging Stations and EV-Ready Parking:

Each EV Ready space/EV Charging Station must have a minimum of 40-ampere dedicated 208/240-volt branch circuit. Circuits must end at a receptacle outlet or EV charger close to the proposed charging location.

EV-Capable Parking:

Raceways capable of accommodating 40-ampere dedicated 208/240-volt branch circuits must be installed for each EV-Capable parking space. Raceways must terminate into a cabinet, box or other enclosure in close proximity to the parking space.

Accessible Parking Spaces:

Ten percent of accessible parking spaces must be provided with electric vehicle charging stations. An additional ten percent of accessible spaces must be EV-ready. No fewer than one for each type of EV charging station must be accessible. A maximum of ten percent of accessible parking spaces are allowed to be included in the total number of electric vehicle parking spaces required.

All parking lot calculations must be rounded to the nearest whole number.

View the official WAC 51-50-0429 laws here: https://app.leg.wa.gov/WAC/default.aspx?cite=51-50-0429&pdf=true

Table 429.2 - Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure:

Group Table:

Read more about Occupancy Classifications here.

Read about Barghausen’s EV experience here: Energy System Design Services. Want to know more about what these regulations mean for your next project? Talk with one of our technical staff members.