The Electric Highway in Oregon Free Charging for Electric Cars
On March 16, 2012, the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT)openedthe first phase of its planned electric highway. The project is a public-private partnership between ODOT, the Oregon Department of Energy (ODOE), and corporate partners Nissan North America and AeroVironment, and is partly funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
Electric charging stations are now available along the 160-mile section of Interstate 5 between the California border and Exit 174 at Cottage Grove, Oregon, just south of Eugene. Other current locations include:
- Rice Hill (Exit 148)* Roseburg (Exit 125)* Canyonville (Exit 99)* Wolf Creek (Exit 76)* Grants Pass (north exit)* Central Point (Fairgrounds Chevron station)* Ashland (south exit)
Each of these charging locations has 2 charging stations: a Level 2 charger, which takes 2-3 hours, and a Level 3 DC fast charger, which can recharge an electric car to 80% in just 20 minutes. For now, charging at these stations is at no cost to the driver. However, electric cars will need connector upgrades to be able to use the Level 2 or 3 charger.
Drivers can activate access to AV charging stations by signing up for AV's Subscriber Networkonlineor by calling 1-888-833-2148. All subscribers receive an AV Network key fob that will allow access to AV charging stations. Charging stations can be found with a smartphone app, and in some cases with software already located in the car.
Other charging stations are also available along the route, but lack Level 3 chargers. An additional 22 Level 3 chargers are planned in Oregon, out of at least35 more charging stationsthroughout the state. This would give solid infrastructure for electrical vehicleswest of the Cascades.
The goal is to have a Level 3 charging station every 20-25 miles along Interstate 5. According to Wahid Nawabi, AeroVironment's senior vice president, "For [EV] drivers to build confidence in driving hundreds of miles like they do in gas cars, they need an infrastructure."
This is just the first phase of a much larger project. In 2009, Oregon signed on with Washington and California to create the 1,350-mile-longWest Coast Electric Highway, which will follow I-5 all the way from the Canadian to the Mexican border. Washington has already broken ground for their part of the project atBellingham. By the end of 2012, more than 40 additional stations will be operational in Oregon and Washington. However, the California section of route has not yet been started.
Oregon's new Electric Highway joins the ECOtality and Cracker Barrel Old Country Store initiative in Tennessee as one of the nation's first electric-enabled transportation corridors. The Tennessee network of 12 charging stations serves the 425 miles between Nashville, Knoxville, and Chattanooga in the Tennessee Triangle. The first planned station in that corridor wasopenedin October 2011. ECOtality's long-term vision is theEV Project, a $230 million public-private deal which is contracted to install 14,000 charging stations in 16 states, includingOregon. So far, the EV Project has installed 3,000 of those stations and is a year behind schedule.
