By late summer or early fall, drivers of electric cars will be able to recharge their vehicles in the SeaTac City Hall parking lot

On the busy Interstate-5 corridor between Seattle and Tacoma, there may not be a more convenient place to stop for drivers.

Located at 4800 S. 188th St., City Hall is just a few blocks off the freeway. On and off-ramps to I-5 allow drivers to quickly get on and off I-5, going either north or south.

A grant to the charger manufacturer allows the deployment of the two charging stations.

According to Public Works Director Tom Gut, the stations will be available to anyone at any time free of charge. The stations will be remotely monitored with cameras.

“We’re pretty excited about this,” Gut declared. “This will, literally, put us on the charging station map.

SeaTac City Hall’s central location right off the freeway already makes it an attractive location for regional meetings of governmental agencies. Gut noted. Many agencies are changing their fleets to electric vehicles so it will be easy for meeting participants to charge up their cars before heading back to the office.

Gut said, currently, the Nissan Leaf can run about 100 miles between charges. The Chevy Volt utilizes a gas engine when the battery is used up.

He said SeaTac will become part of a network of regional charging stations. Locally, the Burien Transit Center and the Tukwila Sounder Station have charging stations available, Gut reported.