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.
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