Lane CC to Build Electric Vehicle Charging Station – Why Not COCC?

It seems like it should be a no-brainer for the utility companies that service Central Oregon to put together a similar program.  And an electrical vehicle charging station designed and built by students from Central Oregon Community College would be natural in an area where, according to the local tourism bureaus, the sun shines over 300 days a year.

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Lane Community College receives first EWEB Greenpower grant
Eugene Water & Electric Board Website – April 18, 2009

Lane Community College received a $100,000 grant from EWEB [Greenpower Grant Program] to build a solar-powered electric vehicle charging station for students and the community. EWEB’s Greenpower customers voted for the LCC project from among five local renewable energy and education projects.

The Greenpower grant will be combined with other funds to build the electric vehicle charging station. A grid of solar panels will be constructed, which will power 36 outlets to recharge plug-in electric or hybrid vehicles on the main LCC campus. Other funding will come from part of a recently passed LCC bond measure.

The LCC project will create opportunities for students to learn about how to install, repair and service the new solar array and vehicle charging station, will lower the community’s carbon footprint, will generate renewable energy, and will help the community learn more about the emerging technology of plug-in vehicles.

Solar-Powered South Florida City – Why Not Central Oregon?

Coming soon to the Sunshine State: the sunshine city
By Michael Grunwald – Time Magazine – April 9, 2009

An NFL lineman turned visionary developer today is unveiling startlingly ambitious plans for a solar-powered city of tomorrow in southwest Florida’s outback, featuring the world’s largest photovoltaic solar plant, a truly smart power grid, recharging stations for electric vehicles and a variety of other green innovations. The community of Babcock Ranch is designed to break new frontiers in sustainable development, quite a shift for a state that has never been sustainable, and lately hasn’t had much development.

“Some people think I got hit in the head a few too many times,” quips developer Syd Kitson, who spent six years in the trenches for the Green Bay Packers and Dallas Cowboys before entering the real estate business in the mid-1980s. “But I still believe deeply in Florida. And the time has come for something completely different.”

To anyone familiar with southern Florida’s planning-nightmare sprawl of golf courses, strip malls and cookie-cutter subdivisions named after the plants and animals they replaced, Kitson’s vision for his solar-powered, smart-growth, live-where-you-work city of 45,000 people east of Fort Myers is breathtakingly different. That’s why the press conference held today revealing his development plans for the historic Babcock Ranch property will feature representatives from the Audubon Society, the World Wildlife Fund and the Sierra Club.

Lake Oswego Gets Its Electric Vehicle Charging Station – How About Bend?

Downtown Bend, the Old Mill District plus the retail business core of Juniper Ridge should have electric vehicle charging stations to help draw customers to their areas. Just like Lake Oswego.  “Mayor Judie Hammerstad expects more drivers from neighboring cities to visit Lake Oswego, plug in their vehicles to charge for free, and then hopefully drop their dollars shopping in nearby downtown businesses.”

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New age fill-up in Lake Oswego
by Yuxing Zheng, The Oregonian – September 22, 2008
[PHOTO HERE}
Portland General Electric unveiled four “filling stations of the future” today when it introduced its fleet of electric charging stations for plug-in vehicles.

Including one station introduced two months ago, the network of five stations in downtown Lake Oswego, the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, and PGE’s Salem and Portland offices will accommodate about a dozen vehicles.

Lake Oswego, one of the first municipalities outside Portland to own a station, hopes to use it as a futuristic economic boost.

As more families buy electric vehicles and the number of area charging stations remains low, Mayor Judie Hammerstad expects more drivers from neighboring cities to visit Lake Oswego, plug in their vehicles to charge for free, and then hopefully drop their dollars shopping in nearby downtown businesses.

Portland Gets Plug-in Hybrid Charging Stations – Why Not Bend?

Plug-in hybrids (PHEV) are here to stay and more are on the way.  Currently most plug-in hybrids on the road today are production hybrids that had been “after-market” converted increasing the capacity of the vehicle’s original battery pack and adding an on-board AC-to-DC charger. But, by 2010 a number of automobile manufacturers will have factory designed plug-in hybrids for sale in their showrooms.

Portland’s program is one of several being developed to provide infrastructure for the advent of electric cars and plug-in hybrids, as new car companies like Tesla roll out their electric vehicles, and major manufacturers such as GM and Toyota get ready for widespread introduction of plug-ins.

Portland General Electric (PGE) & Toyota are placing 12 such stations designed and manufactured by Shorepower Technologies (formerly Shurepower) in the Portland Metropolitan Area. 

Why not make Juniper Ridge a gasoline station free zone and instead put 1-3 plug-in hybrid charging stations?

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PGE opens stations around Portland for plug-in hybrids
by Dylan Rivera, The Oregonian – July 30, 2008

What price is low enough to entice droves of Oregonians to fill up their cars with electricity generated by Northwest wind turbines rather than gasoline made from imported fossil fuels?

How about free — from drive-up stations across the metro area? That’s the strategy Portland General Electric launched Tuesday when it unveiled the first of a dozen plug-in vehicle-charging stations it will install through September.

The utility hopes the stations — about the size of parking meters, with a sleek blue and silver design — will encourage ownership of plug-in electric vehicles by offering visibility, convenience — and a hard-to-beat price. The free test period will continue for an undetermined time.

“It’s what we want to call the filling station of the future,” said Bill Nicholson, vice president of customers and economic development for PGE.

PGE and several major automakers are gearing up for what they consider the next generation of cars: gas-electric hybrids with plug-ins to use electricity to reduce gas consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. They think Portland, which has the nation’s highest ownership rate for the standard Toyota Prius hybrid, could be at the vanguard.