Ten projects across the Pacific Northwest recently secured grants from Pacific Power, through a program that launched in late 2018 to help local organizations in provide more public charging options for electric vehicles. The company plans to award a total of $1.45 million to projects in Oregon that will meet its goals of increasing the availability of workplace charging and public charging stations.
Keely Damara
A Tesla charges at a charging station in the Fred Meyer parking lot in Bend.
Oregon ranks fifth in the nation for electric car ownership per capita, according to Oregon.gov, with 22,467 registered electric vehicles as of December 2018. Gov. Kate Brown's 2017 executive order 17-21 set goals to encourage the widespread adoption of electric vehicles in Oregon —including committing to a goal of 50,000 registered electric vehicles on the road by the end of 2020.
At the current growth rate of 35 percent per year, Oregon is on course to hit 40,000 registered electric vehicles by 2020 — but the Go Electric Oregon marketing campaign aims to meet the 50,000-car goal by increasing buyer awareness of electric vehicle options and benefits.
In January, Pacific Source announced six more grant-funded electric vehicle charging projects in Oregon, including a six-port charging station at the High Desert Museum in Bend.
Pacific Power is currently accepting applications for another round of grants to cover up to 100 percent of project costs. All non-residential Pacific Power customers in California, Oregon and Washington are eligible to apply through May 15, though community-focused organizations are preferred.
