The EV Project: "a big science project"

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Dave Mayfield, eTec Oregon Area Manager

Thanks to a $99.8 million U.S. Department of Energy grant, the largest electric vehicle experiment in country history is underway. The undertaking, dubbed "The EV Project," will see 4,700 all-electric vehicles and more than 11,000 advanced charging stations installed across Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona, and Tennessee.

The grant, awarded in August to Phoenix, Ariz.-based Electric Transportation Engineering Corp. (eTec), will provide funding to establish and study a comprehensive network of electric vehicle charging stations.

To test the infrastructure, automaker Nissan will roll out the electric-only Leaf. The first vehicles will be delivered later this year, including 900 to Oregon. The vehicles have a per-charge range of 100 miles, and take 4-8 hours to charge on the standard 220V home charger.

The vehicles, along with the charging stations, will monitor and report every aspect of the project, including battery efficiency, charging habits, and consumer behavior.

In all, eTec has partnered with more than 40 organizations and utilities.

In Oregon, Portland General Electric is working closely with eTec. The utility recently joined forces with Portland State University to study electric vehicles and smart grid technologies. Charlie Allcock, director of economic development at PGE, said the utilities role is to educate its customer base about EVs.

ETec, a subsidiary of Tempe, Ariz.-based ECOtality, will oversee the placement and installation of the charging stations. Every purchase of a Leaf includes a home charging station. More than 1000 additional chargers will be installed in Oregon, placed on publicly accessible, privately owned land. eTec is currently seeking hosts for these stations, which will run along the I-5 corridor from Eugene to Portland.

Jeanine L'Ecuyer, communications and marketing vice president for ECOtality, said that, although the grant only extends for three years, eTec is currently formulating a "10-year plan" for the project that will continue to support EV owners. "Cars will not be crushed at the end of their leases," said L'Ecuyer.

The goal of The EV Project is research – the data collected will play a major role in how future electric vehicle infrastructure is developed.

As L'Ecuyer puts it: "This is basically a big science project."

ETec has already felt an economic impact from the project — they've added 50 people to their workforce since October. The EV Project predicts the addition of 750 nationwide jobs by 2012, ranging across a variety of industries. With four of the 11 participating U.S. cities, Oregon will see its share of economic benefit.

"This project is going to allow Oregon to have about $16 million to $20 million of investment in electric vehicle infrastructure," said Dave Mayfield, eTec's Oregon area manager. ETec is currently seeking businesses that would like to host a charging station.