Forth clearly identifies Oregon’s urgent need to increase EV charging infrastructure to meet the State's goals for growth in EVs in its report to Oregon Governor, Kate Brown as part of the Transportation Electrification Infrastructure Needs Assessment (TEINA) project. TEINA endeavors to set out EV infrastructure goals to provide Oregonians with confidence that EV charging will be as ubiquitous and convenient as fueling with gasoline, and suggests a range of policies to achieve these goals.   

TEINA is one of the results from the Governor’s Executive Order 20-04. Among many other climate actions, EO 20-04 directed the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) to “conduct a statewide transportation electrification infrastructure needs analysis, with particular focus on rural areas of the state, across use types and vehicle classes, to facilitate the transportation electrification goals set forth in Senate Bill 1044.”

After nearly a year of working closely with our project team partners and with staff from ODOT and the Oregon Department of Energy, we believe the report makes clear that if we’re going to reach the EV goals in SB 1044 (2.5 million registered EVs by 2035). Forth was selected by ODOT to be on the TEINA project team, along with Kittelson and Associates, Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), and HDR, Inc. 

Forth led the portions of the analysis that focused on policy recommendations and implementation actions needed to close gaps in TE infrastructure.  Near-term priority policies include establishing a two-to-five year infrastructure deployment strategy, updating Oregon’s building codes and parking ordinances to make them EV-ready, and ensuring equitable charging access for all Oregonians. We also determined that priority infrastructure deployment actions in the near term should focus on targeting light-duty EV charging needs, while supporting depot charging for fleets of all types, and planning for charging needs of local commercial and industrial vehicles and long-haul trucking. 

Much more work remains and a whole series of next steps will be needed to turn the TEINA recommendations into on-the-ground results. There is no magic wand to solve these challenges and it will require a range of targeted approaches for different vehicle use-cases in different parts of the state. 

This challenge won't be overcome by a single actor or entity. Many stakeholders will need to take focused actions and coordinate with each other to build a robust statewide charging network and rapidly deploy the EV charging infrastructure needed to push transportation in Oregon toward our electric future. But we believe the TEINA report provides a solid foundation for how we start down that path, and Forth is proud to have been a part of the effort.

For more information, contact Forth's Policy Manager, Rhett Lawrence.