SEATTLE -- Seattle will be one of just five cities across the nation to get millions of dollars worth of charging stations for electric cars.

Seattle will get up to 2,550 charging systems for electric cars as part of a $99 million federal grant from the U.S. Department of Energy; the largest electrification project in the history of transportation.

A spokesman for the Seattle mayor's office, Alex Fryer, says about 1,000 charging stations will be in residences and 1,500 in a network for the metro area.

Mayor Greg Nickels signed an agreement with Nissan in April to make Seattle one of the first markets to introduce the Nissan Leaf, a zero-emission, electric car. It’s slated to arrive in Oct. 2010.

Wednesday’s grant will offer Leaf buyers a 220-volt charging station in their home at no cost.

Nissan said the Leaf can go 100 miles on one battery charge and will be priced the same as a typical gas-powered sedan.

At current City Light electricity rates, Nickels said the Leaf would cost $190 to drive 10,000 miles, or just under 2 cents a mile. To drive the same distance in a car that gets 25 miles per gallon - the 2008 national MPG average - would cost approximately $1,100 at $2.76 per gallon, the current average cost of gasoline in Seattle.

The mayor's office has a list of frequently asked questions about charging stations here.