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About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 12, 2022)
Wednesday, January 12, 2022 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon CHARGING: New electric stations to come on line in Sisters Continued from page 1 similar disappointments from shoppers and diners. Pull into Bi-Mart or Ray9s and it9s easy to assume that Sisters identifies more with pickups and SUVs than EV or hybrid vehicles. Park at Ace or Hoyt9s and you9ll find that Sisters drivers are clearly more at home in that Chevy, Dodge, or Ford truck, just as dad or grandpa drove all those years ago. Given Sisters9 rural locale and the number of farmers and ranchers who proliferate Sisters Country, it9s under- standable that drivers here would favor the heftier, multi- purpose usefulness of a light- duty truck or roomy SUV. Years running, pickups are the best-selling passenger vehi- cles in America with Ford9s F-150 perennially at the top of the sales rankings, followed this year by Dodge Ram and the Chevrolet Silverado. In 2021 these models sold a combined 1.4 million vehi- cles. Pickups held the number 11 and 12 spots too. For the first time, an all- electric car, the Tesla Model Y, made Car and Driver mag- azine9s list, coming in at num- ber 19. That list looks a lot like Sisters 4 but experts say that9s all going to change. The year 2022 could be the year the EV sales take off. More than a dozen new models are expected to launch, adding to 20 already on the market in 2020. IHS Markit expects more than 100 models to offer a battery electric option in 2025. EV share could more than triple, from 1.8 percent of U.S. registrations last year to 9 percent in 2025 and 15 percent in 2030. Toyota is particularly bull- ish: EV sales will grow to as high as one in every six vehi- cles by 2030, predicts Toyota Motor North America. That would represent greater vol- ume than all of the Japanese company9s Lexus division in the U.S. Over at Ford you can get in line 4 a very long line 4 for the new 2022 F-150 Lightning, an all-elec- tric pickup. Not your father9s truck to be sure. Tradition and legacy aside, Sisters will find itself in the gravitational pull to EV. Will it be ready? Will there be enough juice to charge the forecasted growing number of such cars and convenience drivers like Laura? City Manager Cory Misley says yes. The vast majority of EVs will be charged at home. That fact itself creates a need for Sisters9 infrastructure plan- ners to get ready for the added electrical demand. Tourists, a major component of our economy, and shoppers from nearby communities like Camp Sherman and Black Butte, will also rely on Sisters to get them juiced up from time to time. Every EV comes with a built-in charging cord enabling it to connect to standard 110-volt household current. Thus, any Sisters Country campground or RV park with electric hook up will get you juice to recharge, albeit slowly 4 in the range of 2 to 6 MRH (miles range per hour), essentially a trickle charge. Right now, EV owners can get a charge at FivePine Lodge & Conference Center or at Sisters Inn & Suites, if they are guests. Mainline Station has a single <pump= with two <hoses,= one for Level 2 (slow charging 3 14-35 MRH) at around $4 per session and the other for Level 3 (fast charging 3 100 MRH) roughly $7.50. Misley says that9s all about to change in April when Sisters Library, at their expense, will install two sta- tions at their entry, each with two Level 2 chargers, four cars at a time in all. The City will provide the electric- ity and users will be able to charge for free. <That9s how we anticipate starting,= Misley said. <We will evaluate that over time as we gauge usage.= He went on to say, <We need to revisit the whole parking situation now that we have completed the Comprehensive Plan. It9s time to update the parking plan with the new variables like EV charging, the Adams Streetscape Design, and con- tinuing growth.= Executive Director of Sisters Area Chamber of Commerce Judy Trego is emphatic that Sisters needs more EV charging. <It9s a community asset,= she said. <It9s essential for sustainable tourism.= This was echoed by sev- eral merchants and purveyors The Nugget asked randomly. Trego would like to see EV charging closer to shop- ping and thinks a station right outside her doors at the Visitor Center would be ideal. <We really need a Super Charger too,= she said. That is the Tesla brand rapid charger that gets one of their cars a 200-mile charge in 15 minutes 4 but that can only be connected to a Tesla. Misley, seeing more charg- ing units as inevitable, is dis- couraged by the lack of ready grants from ODOT or other State agencies. Most of those are going to electrify US 97 and I-5. What few there are presently take years to realize. Our 20th Anniversary Building & Renovating with Innovative Design and Energy-Saving Ideas! State doubles rebate on electric vehicles for low and moderate income Oregonians By Alex Baumhardt Oregon Capital Chronicle Beginning this year, quali- fying Oregonians will get higher rebates for buying an electric car or a plug-in hybrid. The Department of Environmental Quality announced this week that it has doubled the refund under a program for lower- income buyers from $2,500 to $5,000. Individuals have to earn less than $52,000 a year; the income cap for a family of four is $106,000 a year. The agency first adopted rebates for electric vehicles in 2018. Initially, it gave buyers $2,500 back on the purchase of a new electric vehicle regardless of income. This Standard Rebate still exists for Oregonians, but in 2019, it adopted the Charge Ahead Rebate to offer even more financial aid to low- and mod- erate-income Oregonians. Those buyers, if purchasing a brand-new electric vehi- cle today, would qualify for both rebates, totaling $7,500 in money back on their pur- chase. If buying a used elec- tric vehicle, they only qualify for the Charge Ahead Rebate. Both battery-operated electric cars and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles qual- ify for rebates. The former, like a Tesla, only requires a battery to run. The latter, including a Chevrolet Volt, uses both battery power and gas to run. People have to apply for the rebate by providing proof of purchase. Applications are made at https://evrebate.ore- gon.gov/. The wait time for processing applications is up to two months, according to the department9s website. Republished from https:// oregoncapitalchronicle.com under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. A partnership beyond expectations Stop by and visit with Shelley Marsh, Tiana Van Landuyt, Krista Palmer, & Sam Pitcher. westerntitle.com | 330 W. 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