Ford has partnered with the city of Seattle to prepare that area for its electric cars.
The terms of the agreement between Ford and Seattle are nearly identical to the deal struck up earlier this week with PGE.
Ford and the City of Seattle will work together to develop consumer outreach and education programs on electric cars as well as share information on charging needs and requirements to ensure the electrical grid can support the necessary demand.
The partnership between Ford and the City of Seattle, including municipally owned Seattle City Light, also involves working with the state and local governments around permitting, electric car tax incentives and future legislations or regulations. Continued tax incentives as well as an easy charging station permitting process are both considered keys to electric car acceptance in Seattle and across the country.
With the addition of Portland and Seattle, Ford, like Nissan, is focusing a significant amount of effort into developing the EV infrastructure on western coast.
Ford will launch two all-electric vehicles – the Transit Connect Electric light commercial van in North America in late 2010 and in Europe in 2011, followed by the Focus Electric passenger car in North America in 2011 and Europe in 2012. Two next-generation hybrid electric vehicles and a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle follow in North America in 2012 and Europe in 2013.
