Sacramento, you’re going to have to start paying to charge your EV at city lots soon

Ariane Lange
·2 min read

Sacramento’s City Council approved its 2024-2025 budget — and, starting July 1, electric vehicle stations in city parking lots will charge drivers to charge, and a free ride comes to an end.

Previously, electric vehicle owners could charge their cars without paying for the service. As the city worked to close a $66 million budget deficit, gratis power went on the chopping block.

The cost at ChargePoint stations will be assessed separately from parking fees. The rollout of the new rates may take longer at some locations. Drivers will pay through the ChargePoint app.

The city targeted public parking as an area for raising more revenue to help address the deficit. Sacramento will convert 300 spots on central city streets to metered spots, as well as activating downtown and midtown parking meters on Sundays and holidays.

The Department of Public Works listed nearly 90 ChargePoint stations across city-owned parking facilities: Capitol Garage at 10th and L streets, the City Hall Garage, the Tower Bridge Garage at Front Street and Capitol Mall, the Old Sacramento Garage at Second and I streets, Memorial Garage Memorial Garage at 14th and H streets. Amtrak’s Sacramento Valley Station also has SMUD-owned-and-operated charging stations. These spaces at the train station already charge fees.

Rates at city spaces will be $0.20 per kWh during off-peak times; $0.25 per kWh during mid-peak times, and $0.30 per kWh during peak times. The user interface on the charger will reflect the current price of power.

EVs are only allowed in spaces while they are actively charging. If the car plugs in longer than the time it takes to charge the car or if it overstays any designated time limit, the ChargePoint app assesses overstay fees. Vehicles in a space that are unplugged — as in cars that are simply parked in an EV space — can be ticketed.

ChargePoint announced the first of its free charging stations in the California capital in 2010.

Then–Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson said in a news release at the time, “My vision is to make Sacramento the Emerald Valley — the greenest region in the country and the hub of green technology. A networked infrastructure that supports electric vehicles is essential to this vision.”