Local EV Association President weighs in on the future of electric cars and infrastructure
The Emerald Valley Electric Vehicle Associations president, and former Oregon House representative, Phil Barnhart, has been an advocate for the usage of electric vehicles for over a decade, after first buying his first electric vehicle in 2012.
“I wanted to be able to drive this car into the legislator’s parking lot, in the capital in Salem. And show my colleagues every day, that that car was getting me from Eugene to Salem and home again every day,” Barnhart said. “And it did.”
Barnhart says that in the years to follow he helped pass a number of bills that supported the use of electric vehicles in Oregon.
After leaving the House in 2019, he helped start up Eugene’s EVA chapter.
KVAL
According to the EVEVA website, Lane County currently has just over 4,000 registered EVs, a relatively small number in the grand scheme of things, but a substantial increase from what Barnhart saw when he first bought his EV.
However, longstanding concerns about battery life have stuck with people over the years.
“The biggest concern for people is range anxiety, [or] the fear that you’re not going to be able to make it to the next charging station, and you’re going to run out of battery,” said Logan Telles, an associate transportation planner with the city. “And really the solution to that is investing in more infrastructure.”
As more and more infrastructure rolls out to support wider usage of EVs, through legislation like NEVI, the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure plan, and chargers of all levels becoming more accessible, Telles hopes more in Eugene view the switch to EVs as a viable option.
And with Eugene’s Climate Action Plan looking to drastically reduce emissions by 2035, he’s hoping the move to EVs can help address that concern.
“As you might no our CAP 2.0 document found that 53% of our community emissions come from the transportation sector, which obviously includes both gas and diesel powered vehicles,” Telles said. “So the electrification of our community fleet is extremely important.”
For Barnhart, that switch was made a long time ago, and one he’s never thought twice about.
“In order to deal with climate change, we have to get a lot more efficient with energy,” Barnhart said. “This car is about 80-90% efficient. In other words, 80-90% of the electricity that goes in the battery actually goes to the wheel to drive the car.”
EVEVA holds events regularly, with their next one coming in early March at a Tesla supercharger station in Sutherlin, along with annual “Rev Up” workshops for those looking to learn more about EVs. A list of events can be found on their website.
Those who are still looking into purchasing an EV have a number of tax credits, and rebates at their disposal. EWEB offer $500 to install Level 2 chargers in their home (240 Volt chargers), and under the Oregon Clean Vehicle Rebate Program, qualified buyers can get up to $2500 through the state rebate program.
