Wednesday, January 7, 2015 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Car charging stations little used
By edward russo
The Register-Guard
EUGENE (AP) — Nissan
Leaf owner Will Price of
Eugene doesn’t need the net-
work of government-provided
electric vehicle charging sta-
tions that were installed for
motorists like him.
Price drives 14 miles to
and from work, which is eas-
ily within his electric car’s
70-mile range, so he ignores
the publicly accessible fast-
charging units scattered
around Eugene-Springfield.
“I never use them,” Price
said of the public chargers.
“They are of no consequence
to me.”
Most electric-vehicle own-
ers have developed the same
at-home charging habit.
In 2013, the last year that
data were collected for the
federal government, electric
vehicles throughout Oregon
were plugged into public
chargers installed through
The EV Project just 4 percent
of the time, compared with 42
percent of the time at home-
charging units.
The same pattern is true
in the eight other states and
District of Columbia where
the devices also were installed
by the federal government, at
a total cost to the taxpayer
of about $100 million. The
largest deployment of charg-
ing stations in the world, it’s
aimed to support the introduc-
tion of the all-electric Nissan
Leaf and electric and gaso-
line-powered Chevrolet Volt
to help end the nation’s reli-
ance on internal-combustion
engine vehicles.
In Oregon, as part of The
EV Project, the federal gov-
ernment spent more than $5
million buying, distribut-
ing, and installing more than
1,100 charging devices at
the homes of electric vehicle
owners and in places acces-
sible to the public.
The EV Project’s public
chargers were meant to ease
consumer concerns about the
limited range of vehicles that
rely all or in part on battery
power.
Motorist “range anxi-
ety,” or concern about being
stranded with a depleted bat-
tery, was considered to be
a major barrier to popular
acceptance of electric cars,
said state Sen. Phil Barnhart
of Eugene.
That made it important to
install as many publicly avail-
able charging stations as pos-
sible, he said.
“When they installed these
(quick chargers), they were
trying to encourage people
to look at electric vehicles,”
Barnhart said. “They wanted
people to say, ‘Maybe we
should buy one of these
things.’ These gadgets have
served their purpose very
well.”
But the results from The
EV Project appear mixed,
other observers say.
The EV Project bought
and deployed mostly “Level
2” chargers that can resupply
an electric vehicle’s battery in
three to six hours, compared
to the portable “trickle char-
gers” provided by carmakers,
which can take from 10 to 20
hours.
Most days, electric car
owners prefer to plug in their
vehicles at home, both for the
convenience and the lower
cost of residential electricity
compared to what they would
pay at the public charging
units operated by for-profit
networks.
Even with the federal
government providing the
charging-station hardware,
the business of running and
maintaining the units turned
out to be a money loser for
EcoTality, which had installed
the units and established the
Blink network of chargers in
Oregon and the other states
involved in The EV Project.
Government officials
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expected the San Francisco-
based firm would invest $110
million of private funding to
install the residential units and
establish the public network.
EcoTality expected to
become profitable, partly
through the sale of electricity
to electric car owners through
its Blink network of charging
stations, but that failed to hap-
pen quickly enough.
In 2013, staggering under
debt, EcoTality went bank-
rupt. The firm’s assets,
including the Blink network,
were acquired in 2013 by
Miami-based Car Charging
Group, making it the nation’s
largest electric vehicle charg-
ing company.
Yet that firm also is strug-
gling financially, having lost
nearly $11 million in the
first six months of 2014. The
firm’s financial status adds
uncertainty to the network’s
future.
The federal government
initially paid for the pur-
chase and installation of the
vast majority of the Level 2
public charging stations in
Oregon, but the ownership of
the equipment varies. Some
units are owned by property
owners, including govern-
ment entities. Other devices
are owned by Car Charging
Group.
The EV Project was sepa-
rate from the West Coast
Electric Highway Project,
which used federal money to
install 43 direct-current super-
fast chargers along Interstate
5 and other highways.
These devices, which
generally are used more fre-
quently than the Level 2
chargers installed by the EV
Project, can recharge a car’s
battery in about 40 minutes.
Editor’s note: The elec-
tric charging station located
in Sisters at Mainline Station
Chevron is part of the West
Coast Electric Highway sys-
tem, and is an (EV) DC fast-
charging station.
11
Sisters business
at a glance
• Faith Hope & Charity
Vineyards has substantially
expanded its music venue,
putting up a semi-permanent
tent over a concrete slab.
The venue now features a
stage and lighting for per-
formers. The heated space
will be used for the winery
and event center’s regular
music performances through
winter and spring.
For a schedule of bands,
photo provided
visit www.faithhopeand
charityevents.com.
• Cowgirls and Indians
Resale will be shortening
store hours. Kate Aspen will
be producing artwork and
jewelry in her home studio.
Winter schedule for January
through May is Wednesday
through Saturday, 11 a.m.
to 5 p.m.; Monday and
Tuesday by appointment.
Call 541-549-6950.