Published: Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Electric vehicle stations planned along I-5
As early as the end of this year, you might be able to hop into your plug-in electric car and drive to Portland, Ore., or Vancouver, B.C., without worrying about finding a charging station.
The state has received federal economic stimulus funds to build four or five charging stations along the I-5 corridor from Canada to Oregon. The $1.32 million would ultimately pay for seven to 10 stations on I-5 and I-90.
If all goes as planned, Washington will be the first state to have a series of coordinated electric charging stations spanning its borders, said Tonia Buell, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Transportation in Olympia.
“We have a plan, we have the money, and we plan to be first,” she said. “We’re hoping that it’s going to just spread.”
The first two sets of stations will be built at the state’s “gateway” rest stops — the Custer rest area north of Bellingham and the Gee Creek rest area north of Vancouver, Wash.
These would be built by the state, Buell said. Two or three more will be put out for competitive bid this summer and will be built this fall by a private contractor. The remainder of the seven to 10 would be built by next summer.
The exact locations have yet to be determined, but they’ll be spaced at roughly 80-mile intervals along the 276-mile length of I-5 in the state, within a mile of the freeway. This spacing would make Snohomish County a candidate for one of the stations, though Buell said it’s too early to say for sure.
The charging range for the Nissan Leaf, an electric car scheduled to roll out late this fall, is about 100 miles, Buell said.
Other electric vehicles such as the Chevy Volt and Ford Focus are planned to be introduced around the same time.
The charging stations at the rest stops would be “level 2,” meaning it would take three to eight hours to fully recharge a vehicle, Buell said. These projects would be seen as a type of demonstration project to introduce electric vehicle power to the public and to allow drivers to “top off,” she said.
Future stations would be “level 3,” able to fully charge a vehicle in 15 to 30 minutes.
The project will tie in with another federally funded effort, called the EV Project, in which $100 million will be spent on charging stations in five states. Of that amount, roughly $20 million is expected to go to charging stations in the Seattle area.
In addition, Washington, British Columbia, Oregon and California have agreed to promote construction of charging stations along I-5 from Canada to Mexico as part of the West Coast Green Highway project, Buell said. Oregon has identified four areas for charging stations: Portland, Salem, Corvallis and Eugene, she said.
“We’re trying to take all these existing projects out there and connect them,” Buell said.
Bill Sheets: 425-339-3439; sheets@heraldnet.com.
The state has received federal economic stimulus funds to build four or five charging stations along the I-5 corridor from Canada to Oregon. The $1.32 million would ultimately pay for seven to 10 stations on I-5 and I-90.
If all goes as planned, Washington will be the first state to have a series of coordinated electric charging stations spanning its borders, said Tonia Buell, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Transportation in Olympia.
“We have a plan, we have the money, and we plan to be first,” she said. “We’re hoping that it’s going to just spread.”
The first two sets of stations will be built at the state’s “gateway” rest stops — the Custer rest area north of Bellingham and the Gee Creek rest area north of Vancouver, Wash.
These would be built by the state, Buell said. Two or three more will be put out for competitive bid this summer and will be built this fall by a private contractor. The remainder of the seven to 10 would be built by next summer.
The exact locations have yet to be determined, but they’ll be spaced at roughly 80-mile intervals along the 276-mile length of I-5 in the state, within a mile of the freeway. This spacing would make Snohomish County a candidate for one of the stations, though Buell said it’s too early to say for sure.
The charging range for the Nissan Leaf, an electric car scheduled to roll out late this fall, is about 100 miles, Buell said.
Other electric vehicles such as the Chevy Volt and Ford Focus are planned to be introduced around the same time.
The charging stations at the rest stops would be “level 2,” meaning it would take three to eight hours to fully recharge a vehicle, Buell said. These projects would be seen as a type of demonstration project to introduce electric vehicle power to the public and to allow drivers to “top off,” she said.
Future stations would be “level 3,” able to fully charge a vehicle in 15 to 30 minutes.
The project will tie in with another federally funded effort, called the EV Project, in which $100 million will be spent on charging stations in five states. Of that amount, roughly $20 million is expected to go to charging stations in the Seattle area.
In addition, Washington, British Columbia, Oregon and California have agreed to promote construction of charging stations along I-5 from Canada to Mexico as part of the West Coast Green Highway project, Buell said. Oregon has identified four areas for charging stations: Portland, Salem, Corvallis and Eugene, she said.
“We’re trying to take all these existing projects out there and connect them,” Buell said.
Bill Sheets: 425-339-3439; sheets@heraldnet.com.
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