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 vehicle 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 vehicle acceptance in Seattle and across the country.

Seattle and Seattle City Light have been national leaders in promoting the use of electricity for personal transportation. Their efforts include:

• Participation in one of the country’s largest plug-in hybrid electric vehicle demonstration projects.
• A commitment to respond to home charging station permit applications within three business days. Winning $500,000 in ARRA funding through a Clean Cities Coalition grant, which will enable the City to install at least 50 charging stations on public property.
• Seattle City Light’s fully offsetting its carbon emissions since 2005, the only large utility in the country to achieve carbon neutrality, which means electric cars charged in City Light’s service territory run “totally clean”.