Commuters in the Washington metropolitan area are all too familiar with the constant expulsion of thick, odorous exhaust from traditional gas vehicles due to heavy traffic congestion. Since ozone is one of the main risks to air quality in the region, the strides being made toward transitioning to primarily electric transportation are necessary for stable environmental health.
“When I go into the city, and I see how these cars are passing by up close, and all the buses and all those fumes, [they] irritate me [and] I start coughing,” Ronald Kaltenbaugh, president of the Electric Vehicle Association of Greater Washington D.C. (EVADC), told The Informer. “The more we go electric, the more we can reduce that pollution and make it healthier for everybody.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the transportation sector is the leading source of greenhouse gas (GHG) pollution in the United States, contributing to 28% of emissions. Volatile organic compounds such as nitrogen oxides and carbon monoxide are emitted by gasoline-fueled vehicles, and when they react with sunlight, they help form ground-level ozone.
Electric vehicles (EVs) run on an electric motor rather than an internal combustion engine. Traction batteries power these motors and can be charged at home or at public charging stations, which means the vehicle runs solely on electricity and emits no exhaust into the atmosphere. According to Coltura’s EV Cost Saving Index, EV drivers throughout the nation are saving 8.3 cents per mile on fuel and maintenance compared to gas cars.
Washington is among national leaders in EV registration and aims to have 25% or more of all vehicles registered in the city be zero-emission by 2030. Nearby, the Alexandria Transit Company (DASH) has a goal to transition its entire fleet to zero-emission buses (ZEBs) by 2037. Since air travels, so does pollution across close jurisdictions, which means mitigation efforts must be executed in collaboration.
“We learn a lot from each other, we trade a lot of information, we work together as a region, not as just one city or one locality,” Raymond Mui, DASH Chief Infrastructure and Development Officer, told The Informer. “We work together as a region because if we don’t function and collaborate well as a region and one team, we can only do so much as far as improving the environment in this area.”
DASH Makes ZEB Charging History
DASH has made considerable progress since 2019, with 16% of its fleet currently comprised of battery-electric ZEBs, and an additional 20% on order for delivery to the northern Virginia city within the next two years.
The transit company recently broke ground on a new project, unveiling the Washington Metropolitan Area’s first two on-route electric bus chargers– a significant achievement in the expansion of Alexandria’s sustainable and reliable public transportation sector. This development was celebrated with a ceremony at the West End Alexandria redevelopment site on June 23.
These chargers can be seen as a breakthrough because one of the challenges of operating ZEBs is the requirement for ample charging opportunities to meet the area’s service demands. The vehicles often have to pause their service in the middle of the day to charge before they can return to regular service.
“[This is] a challenge we don’t have with conventional fuel buses, so introducing something like an on-route opportunity charger will give these buses a way to frequently charge while in service… and to be able to stay on the street and remain in service all day and night,” Mui told The Informer.
Since its inception in 1984, DASH has grown to the point where it takes more than four million people off the road every year, substantially reducing the miles traveled by single-occupancy vehicles. Mui told The Informer that the transit company is estimated to contribute to the reduction of 17,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually.
DASH also has a facility expansion project under construction, and upon completion, will be outfitted as a dedicated electric bus charging yard. This development will help the transit company further expand and sustain its fleet. Mui shared that there is currently $20 million worth of infrastructure funding being allocated to support similar investments.
“One of the challenges with this industry is that the technology is still in its infancy in many ways,” Mui told The Informer. “The technology and manufacturer suppliers in our space are very limited and very narrow.”
Access to Charging Sites on the Rise
Like ZEBs, single-occupancy EVs also need ample opportunity to charge. Filling up the battery of a typical 25-kilowatt-hour car from empty can take up to eight hours. Because of the long wait, many EV drivers will opt to add enough miles necessary to get them through their daily operations. For many EVs, adding approximately 100 miles of range is possible with a wait time of about 35 minutes.
There are three levels of charging, with the speed at which they power up a battery being the main difference across all of them. Level one is the slowest, offering three to five miles of range per hour, and is usually done with power outlets homeowners may already have outside. Level two provides faster charging, adding 12 to 40 miles of range per hour, but requires charging equipment installation. Finally, the third level of charging is the fastest of them all, getting the battery to 80% full charge in approximately 30 minutes, and is usually placed along heavily concentrated traffic corridors.
“The biggest challenge is for people that are in multi-unit dwellings that don’t have charging, though increasingly people are putting chargers into those because there’s demand for it,” Kaltenbuagh told The Informer.
EV drivers can charge their cars at public charging stations, usually located in areas where cars are parked for long periods of time, such as shopping centers, airports, hotels and more. Most drivers also plug their cars in at home if they have access to the right infrastructure, like a garage outlet to plug into, but this isn’t always easy to come across.
“A lot of people don’t have garages in D.C., so [they’ll] need curbside charging… or more fast charging locations,” Antoine Thompson, president of the Greater Washington Region Clean Cities Coalition (GWRCCC), told The Informer. “There’s not a lot of public land available for public charging,… so we need to be intentional in our efforts to deploy EV charging stations.”
Luckily, D.C. government is working to close this access gap. In February 2026, the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) announced the Neighborhood Curbside Electric Vehicle Charging Station Pilot to bring more public charging opportunities in residential communities across the city.
Kaltenbaugh and Thompson both think more education is required to help accelerate the transition from gas to electric cars in the Washington Metropolitan Area, which is why their respective organizations are committed to holding showcases, information sessions and vehicle displays to increase knowledge surrounding various EV options and how to operate them.
“[GWRCCC would] love to get a contract with D.C. government to do more education outreach,” Thompson told The Informer. “The other thing I would love to see is providing more grants for churches, nonprofits and homeowners to deploy electric vehicles.”
If the region as a whole wants to meet its sustainability goals and significantly reduce GHG emissions, protect air quality and save residents money with greener transportation options— whether in the public or private transportation sectors— collaboration and extensive advocacy for environmental stewardship are essential.
“I think we need to acknowledge that each jurisdiction and each locality will have a slightly different approach to it, and that’s fine,” Mui told The Informer. “I think the key thing is, even though we’re all going to have slightly different priorities and slightly different approaches serving our role in accounting for environmental sustainability, that we all work together and collaborate and support each other in every way we can.”
