Madison Common Council votes to make electric vehicle charging more accessible

MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) - Madison residents who are renters have another incentive to own an electric vehicle, the Madison Common Council hopes.

Tuesday evening the Council voted to adopt new requirements to advance electric vehicle charging.

The new ordinance requires at least 10 percent of newly-constructed parking for multifamily residential and some commercial use to be EV ready. This means that infrastructure is in place to easily ad EV chargers in the future.

Additionally, two percent of residential stalls and one percent of commercial stalls will be required to have EV charging installed for use.

“We’ve heard of numerous examples where building owners have installed EV chargers, and then quickly saw residents convert to electric vehicles,” said District 12 Alder Syed Abbas, who championed the new ordinance. “This is part of an ‘if you build it, they will come’ philosophy, and it’s imperative that we take such a common-sense approach to reducing our carbon emissions.”

According to the Mayor’s Office, the City has a goal of community-wide net zero carbon emissions by 2050. This new ordinance, the Alders hope, will achieve this goal and help residents overcome a key barrier to owning an EV - access to charging.

“If we are serious about achieving our climate goals in Madison, we have to transition to clean technology and build a City that embraces it,” said Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway, who co-sponsored the ordinance. “We must ensure that new developments in Madison are built for the 21stcentury, and this legislation helps to do that.”