EVs in Eastern Oregon?

Rural areas present a unique set of challenges in the push to electrify our transportation systems.

By Jim Drake. March 26, 2020. Like a momentary spark, electric vehicles took center stage at the Feb. 19 Democratic Primary National Debate in Las Vegas.

Responding to a question addressing climate change, former Vice President Joe Biden alluded to the crucial role that electric vehicles (EVs) play in reducing carbon emissions, and said the installation of new charging stations would be a top priority of his administration.

[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]“I would make sure that we had 500,000 new charging stations in every new highway we built in the United States of America or repaired.”[/perfectpullquote] 

As electric car manufacturers continue to increase the range of their vehicles, today’s battery technology is getting EV drivers farther and farther from home on a single charge. But the amount of EV infrastructure available to the public will need to grow and change accordingly in order to give drivers the confidence they need to get from one end of the Beaver State to the other.

Oregon’s portion of the West Coast Electric Highway (WCEH) — nearly a decade old and in need of its own infrastructure upgrades — is a network of 44 EV charging stations that covers much of the western half of the state. With a consistent branding and marketing strategy, the WCEH supported and encouraged the state’s early adopters of electric cars: residents of Portland, the Willamette Valley, the coast, and more recently, the Columbia Gorge.

But for EV drivers heading east of The Dalles and onward towards the Idaho border, the lengthy and sparsely populated stretches between cities, towns and rural communities can seem daunting.

Fortunately, despite the numerous challenges faced by rural communities, the complex process of bringing EV infrastructure to Central and Eastern Oregon is beginning to make inroads with help from state agencies, public and private utility companies, and the efforts of EV drivers themselves.

Electric vehicles in Oregon

According to a recent report from the Oregon Department of Transportation, Oregon has 19,066 registered all-electric vehicles on the road (not including plug-in hybrids). Although that figure represents less than one percent of the state’s registered passenger vehicles, the report reveals that EVs are currently registered in every county in Oregon. And those vehicles are already making a difference in terms of the state’s overall greenhouse gas emissions.

The EPA estimates that every electric vehicle on the road keeps 4.6 metric tons of CO2 out of the atmosphere. (These reductions are even greater when renewable energy sources are used to charge the batteries.)

And since lowering the state’s overall greenhouse gas emissions in the transportation sector is a top priority and climate change goal for the Oregon’s Governor’s office, various offices and state agencies are working to promote EV use and increase the number of electric vehicles statewide.

“Clean air is important for everybody, lowering greenhouse gas emissions is important for everybody, and every part of the state should have the opportunity to benefit from the advantages that electric vehicles bring,” says Mary Brazell, a policy advisor for the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT).

Brazell says that an important part of promoting and understanding the needs of electric vehicles is the Zero Emission Vehicle Interagency Working Group (ZEVIWG). Led by ODOT, this group is working to fulfill the requirements of Gov. Brown’s Executive Order 17-21, which was issued in order to accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles in Oregon.

“It’s definitely something that the state agencies take very seriously,” Brazell says.

One of the primary ways that ODOT is expanding electric vehicle infrastructure in the state is by proposing highway locations for EV charging stations that would be built by an entity called Electrify America. (This entity was created as part of the legal settlement that came out of Volkswagen’s diesel emissions scandal in 2015.)

With each cycle of investment from Electrify America, ODOT continues to submit information on the potential placement of charging stations.

“Completing Interstate 84, in terms of going beyond where the Electric West Coast Highway is, and trying to have some additional charging east of The Dalles, was a priority. We were successful in getting Electrify America to put charging stations near the Idaho border in Huntington, and into LaGrande and Hermiston…and also in Hood River,” Brazell says.

ODOT is also pursuing funding opportunities through a Federal Highway Administration program known as the Alternative Fuel Corridor Designation.

One goal of the corridor designation is to have roads become “EV Ready,” which means there should be charging stations — including DC Fast Charging, which charges a battery to 80% capacity within 20 minutes — about every 50 miles.

“I-5, Highway 101, and I-84 from Portland to The Dalles are currently designated as EV Ready. The areas that we’re going after right now are Hwy 97 and Hwy 26,” Brazell adds.

Incentives and opportunities

Brazell says that some investor-owned utilities — as well as consumer utility cooperatives and public utility districts — are offering incentives for electric vehicles and charging infrastructure that may be of interest to rural communities.

“Pacific Power was recently heard before the Public Utilities Commission on their proposed transportation electrification plan, which included grant opportunities and pilot projects involving infrastructure development,” Brazell says.

She points out that Pacific Power’s plan included four DC Fast Chargers that were installed in Madras, and says they are testing a similar charging facility in Bend.

An interactive map shows that charging stations now exist in the towns of Arlington, Ione, Heppner, Condon and Fossil, but Brazell says a big challenge facing rural communities is the relatively low numbers of electric vehicles in rural counties.

“It’s a conundrum to try and encourage expansion into areas of the state where there may be fewer electric vehicles today…and fewer opportunities to make money on the use of DC Fast Charging. Even though 80% of electric vehicle charging takes place at home, at night, one of the biggest barriers to electric vehicle adoptions is people’s concern that they can refuel if they’re on a long trip,” Brazell says.

Jessica Reichers, a Technology and Policy Manager for the Department of Energy, agrees.

“The cost of installing that infrastructure will fall to whatever entity chooses to install it. And if you are looking at a business model where you install the charger, and people pay you a certain amount of money to help fund the cost of that charger, there’s so few people with electric vehicles in Eastern Oregon that you’re probably not going to be able to make a business case for that,” Reichers says.

Nevertheless, Reichers says there are incentives for residents that want to put charging infrastructure in their homes or workplaces.

“You can get up to a $1,000 dollar tax credit to help put charging in your own home, and businesses can get up to 30% of the cost of the charger, up to $30,000, through tax credits to fund charging infrastructure.”

Reichers said that many state utilities have applied for Clean Fuel Credits under the Department of Environmental Quality’s Clean Fuels Program, and that this money could also be used for the installation of charging infrastructure.

Updating the West Coast Electric Highway

The first charging station on the West Coast Electric Highway opened in 2011. But in the years since, car manufacturers have made changes to the types of plugs and batteries used in their vehicles, and Reichers says the Highway needs to be updated accordingly.

She says the DOE is working to solve these issues, and plans to make any future charging installations compatible with all of the existing equipment in the state.

“ODOT is getting ready to put out a Request For Proposals right now for a contractor to come in and update the West Coast Electric Highway network to include CCS and CHAdeMO charging capability, and run that network going forward,” Reichers adds.

Reichers says the DOE will also be working with Electrify America during the next round of funding cycles to look at potential expansions to the West Coast Electric Highway.

“We’re anticipating discussions in spring of 2021, so we’ll be looking where we can get infrastructure to parts of the state that have not been included in the past,” Reichers says.

Taking charge in Pendleton

In 2013, Jordan McDonald bought his first electric vehicle. Since then, McDonald has been using his first generation Nissan Leaf for an 88 mile round-trip commute from Pendleton to Boardman in rural Umatilla County.

“A lot of people in Eastern Oregon have 15, 20, or 40 mile commutes, especially if you live out of town. It’s a no brainer for me to drive as much as I can on electric. It takes my maintenance costs down to almost zero. It cuts fuel costs in half,” McDonald says.

The one-way trip is nearly at the maximum distance he can travel on a full battery charge, so he does what more and more commuting employees are doing, even in urbanized areas: he plugs in his car at work to relieve the stress of trying to get home on a 30% battery charge.

But after seeing an increase in the amount of EV’s on the road in his area, McDonald is now leading the effort to get a public charging station installed in downtown Pendleton.

“I’ve spotted six or seven Leafs, and four different colored Teslas running around town, all with Oregon plates,” McDonald says.

Those Tesla vehicles have a good reason to be on the road. The private car manufacturer installed eight of their unique charging stations at the nearby Wildhorse Casino, about 10 miles from Pendleton’s downtown. But McDonald wanted something the rest of the EV community could use, and he learned about the grant program offered by Pacific Power that covers 100% of the cost of a DC Fast Charge system.

“Originally, I was going to write it for my own property. I decided we would have a higher chance of success if I wrote the grant for the city of Pendleton because they prioritize nonprofits and government entities,” McDonald says.

He predicts that the new public charging station, to be located at the Heritage Station Museum, will be ready around October of this year.

“ChargePoint, an electric vehicle charging station manufacturer, will provide the equipment, maintenance and warranty. A local electrician will do the main install work and our public works department will do the main site prep work,” McDonald explains.

The budding market for electric pickup trucks and SUVs

McDonald says he believes that electric vehicles are going to be a game changer, especially when auto manufacturers start making pickup trucks and SUVs, which are necessities in the agricultural hubs of Eastern Oregon.

“People in agribusiness and construction, they pretty much have to have something with towing capability or at least some substantial cargo capacity,” McDonald says. “Almost everyone in Eastern Oregon drives further on a daily basis than your average urban counterpart, but I don’t think that people are insensitive to the cost of fuel, especially for larger vehicles.

“I think that when they become available…I think it’s really gonna take off. People really just have to be educated about the reduced maintenance and reduced fuel costs.”

The Oregon Electric Vehicle Collaborative — a group that is working to ensure EV access to low income communities, communities of color and rural communities — has been discussing what kinds of electric vehicles would be best suited for the agricultural-based economy of Eastern Oregon. Group facilitator Kristen Wright believes there could be some prototype equipment that could be especially useful to the rural community.

“If we’re looking at reducing emissions, if that’s really the ultimate goal, then we need to think about things like forklifts in distribution warehouses. Or similar construction equipment, that, if electrified, could create better working environments,” Wright says.

And according to Mary Brazell, who recently attended the Portland Auto show, auto manufacturers are bringing more and more options to the marketplace. She says that everyone is waiting for the trucks.

“It’s really something to see the power of competition in the marketplace. Ford has a F150 electric that’s due out at the end of 2021. That’s an important part of the market that hasn’t been served yet; and there’s more companies putting out larger SUVs and crossovers, with hybrids and pure plug-in battery electrics,” Brazell says.

Other groups like Forth Mobility, a non-profit group out of Portland involved in promoting electric vehicles, have been working with the Oregon Electric Vehicle Collaborative. And Thor Hinckley, Sr. Program Manager at Forth, says that larger, more farm-friendly electric vehicles are on the way, with companies like Tesla and Rivian getting into the act.

“I think everyone watching the media has been aware that Tesla has their own pickup truck coming out, and people are putting deposits on it,” Hinckley says.

“Rivian is another American manufacturer that’s focused on the electrification of SUVs and pickup trucks. They will have products on the market late next year, and those products will go 250-400 miles in range.”

Citing the new Charging Ahead Rebate, Hinckley says that qualified buyers can save $2,500 off of new or used vehicles by jumping into the electric vehicle realm.

“There’s no such thing as a cheap new vehicle, but with a price equivalence of $1 per gallon for electricity, I think the savings can add up quickly for many rural residents.”

 

*This is the second in a series of stories about the role of transportation in combatting climate change.