Portsmouth, VA Parking Rules: EV Charging (2026)

Sec. 2-301(K), Electric Vehicle Changing Stations Provisions, sits in the city's off-street parking chapter alongside a separate low-emission-vehicle allowance in subsection (J). Any parking lot or structure may set aside spaces for electric vehicle charging, and those spaces count toward the minimum number of parking spaces the zoning ordinance otherwise requires for the site, the same treatment given to spaces for battery-electric, hybrid, and fuel-cell vehicles under (J). Making a charging space available to the public earns an extra credit. Sec. 2-301(K)(3)(a) counts a publicly available charging space at twice the normal rate toward the minimum parking requirement, two spaces of credit for each one space reserved for charging.

To qualify as available for public use under (K)(3)(b), the space must be accessible to the public during all hours the parking facility itself is open, not restricted to employees, tenants, or a subset of visitors. The ordinance doesn't mandate that any development install charging stations; it's an optional credit a developer can use to help meet the site's parking minimum rather than a standalone charging mandate. Because the credit is tied to minimum parking counts, it's applied during the same site plan or Zoning Permit review that covers the rest of a project's off-street parking layout.