Oregon is planning to install hundreds of additional electric vehicle charging ports across rural parts of the state next year.
Drivers should see about 370 new electric vehicle charging ports across the state in 2024 as part of an Oregon Department of Transportation rebate program. The program reimburses some of the costs associated with buying and installing chargers at places including multi-family homes or public parking areas, according to ODOT.
“The program is aiming to fill in infrastructure gaps where we’ve seen less investment from the private sector,” said Matt Noble, a spokesman with ODOT.
FILE - Electric car charging stations are seen at the Residence Inn by Marriott in Northeast Portland on Thursday, Feb. 28, 2019.
Moriah Ratner / OPB
There are three different types of EV chargers, Noble said. The first level usually takes two or three days to recharge a vehicle. Level two is the next tier up, which can usually charge a Tesla in about six to eight hours. These are type of chargers being installed. Level three could recharge a vehicle within 30 or 40 minutes, Noble said. There are fewer level three chargers nationwide since they are more expensive to install.
The Community Charging Rebates program is part of ODOT’s $100 million push to get more electric vehicle charging stations along Oregon’s roads in the next five years.
Some of the first-round recipients included Mt. Hood Meadows, the city of Bend, the Inn at Cannon Beach and the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry.
Transportation is the largest single source of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States.
And there is a push on both the federal and state levels to encourage automakers and drivers to make the shift away from fossil fuels and toward clean driving to try and stave off a climate catastrophe.
In some ways, the shift toward electric vehicles is happening swiftly in the state. In 2021, there were only 38,000 electric vehicles registered in Oregon. Today, there are nearly 80,000 electric vehicles registered to Oregon drivers, according to state figures.
But it seems unlikely the state will meet its goal of having 250,000 registered electric vehicles on the road by 2025, according to the Department of Energy.
As of November of this year, Oregon has 1,117 public electric vehicle charging stations that have more than 2,700 ports. Each charging station can have several ports for multiple vehicles to charge.
Editor’s note: This story has been corrected to show Oregon has nearly 80,000 registered electric vehicles. OPB regrets the error.