No Driveway? Alexandria Is Bringing EV Charging Closer to Home
From Old Town rowhouses to condos, apartments, nonprofits and churches, Alexandria is tackling one of the biggest obstacles to owning an electric vehicle: where to plug it in.
ALEXANDRIA, VA — You love your historic Old Town rowhouse. You love your electric car.
There’s just one problem.
Where exactly are you supposed to plug it in?
For Alexandria residents with a private driveway or garage, charging an electric vehicle at home can be relatively straightforward. But this is Alexandria—a city filled with historic rowhouses, condominiums and apartment buildings where parking may be shared or entirely on the street.
The City is attacking that problem from two directions.
Alexandria has opened another round of Plug In Alexandria, offering technical assistance and reimbursement grants of up to $15,000 to help multi-unit residential communities install shared EV chargers. New for 2026, nonprofits and places of worship can apply, too.
Meanwhile, Alexandria’s Curbside EV Charging Program is designed to bring publicly accessible chargers to neighborhood streets for residents who don’t have a driveway or garage at all.
Condos and Apartments Can Get Up to $15,000
The City’s Office of Climate Action announced the latest round of Plug In Alexandria on Aug. 24, with applications due Sept. 21 for the next evaluation.
Organizations accepted into the program receive a free site visit and customized technical assessment from industry experts. The assessment examines the property’s electrical infrastructure, construction requirements and charging needs and provides estimates of what installation could cost.
Participants that move forward with installation can apply for a $10,000 reimbursement grant toward eligible expenses. Organizations in qualifying low-income community census tracts may receive up to $15,000.
For older buildings, simply figuring out how to add chargers can be part of the challenge.
Don Burke, president of the board at Park Place Condominium, described his property in a City-published Plug In Alexandria partner document as “an older condominium building that found a way to install charging.”
Burke offered to help other multi-unit communities “noodle through the options and challenges”—an acknowledgment that adding chargers to an existing building can require considerably more planning than simply buying the equipment.
Alexandria has been working on that problem for several years. The Zebra reported in 2023 on the City’s Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Readiness Strategy, which identified residents of multifamily buildings as a group for whom at-home charging could be particularly difficult.
A 2024 Zebra follow-up examined Alexandria’s efforts to expand public charging infrastructure as EV ownership continued to grow.
But What If Your “Parking Space” Is on the Street?
That’s a different problem—and a particularly familiar one in Old Town.
A homeowner may own a historic rowhouse but have no driveway or garage. The car could be parked on a public street across a sidewalk from the front door.
That’s where Alexandria’s separate curbside program comes in.
City Council approved the Curbside EV Charging Program in February 2026, allowing qualified private vendors to install, own and operate publicly accessible chargers along neighborhood streets at no cost to the City.
The program specifically targets a gap for residents without dedicated driveways or garages and people living in multifamily communities.
The City says up to 60 chargers may be installed during the program’s first two years. After that initial period, Alexandria plans to pause new approvals, examine usage and gather community feedback before deciding how the program should proceed.
The chargers must meet City siting and operating standards and are intended to have a minimal design suitable for Alexandria neighborhoods, including its historic districts.
And there is an important distinction for homeowners: the curbside charger is not a private charger belonging to the house it sits in front of.
It remains publicly accessible.
Residents interested in seeing a charger in their neighborhood can request a location for a curbside EV charger through the City.
Plug In Alexandria Is Already Producing Chargers
The City’s multi-unit residential program isn’t theoretical.
Twelve Alexandria communities have participated:
- Brighton Square Homeowners Association
- Cameron Station Community Association, Inc.
- Carlyle Towers Condominium
- CIM Group
- The Kingsley
- Loft Condominium
- Marina Towers Condominium Association
- Northampton Place Condominium
- Parkfairfax Condominium
- Plaza Condominium Unit Owners Association
- Pointe at Park Center
- The Unit Owners Association of the Prescott Condominium
And one has already produced a visible result.
The Kingsley installed four EV charging ports for residents in April 2026, according to the City.
New for 2026: Nonprofits and Places of Worship
This year’s expansion brings another group of Alexandria properties into Plug In Alexandria.
For the first time, nonprofit organizations and places of worship are eligible to apply, potentially bringing shared EV charging to properties used by employees, members, volunteers and visitors.
Eligible expenses can include engineering design, EV charging equipment, necessary electrical work and installation. Trenching, certain repairs associated with building penetrations, signs and painting may also qualify.
The program can even cover up to three years of certain warranties, activation fees and annual network subscriptions.
Attorney and consultant fees, management company expenses, electricity, insurance increases and most ongoing operating and maintenance costs generally aren’t covered. Nor does the program pay for private chargers intended exclusively for individual residents or employees.
Bringing the Plug Closer to the Car
Ultimately, Alexandria’s EV charging challenge isn’t simply about building more charging stations. It’s about putting chargers where people can realistically use them.
For a homeowner with a garage, that may mean charging at home.
For someone living in a condominium or apartment building, it may mean persuading an association or property owner to install shared chargers—with Plug In Alexandria helping determine what’s feasible and offsetting some of the cost.
And for the owner of an Old Town rowhouse whose car spends every night along a public curb, Alexandria’s emerging curbside charging network offers another possibility.
Multi-unit residential communities, nonprofits and places of worship have until Sept. 21, 2026, to apply for consideration in the next Plug In Alexandria evaluation.
For eligibility requirements, grant details and the application, visit the City’s Plug In Alexandria program page.
For information about curbside charging and other EV initiatives, visit Electric Vehicles in Alexandria.
