Industry News: West Coast Electric Highway Turns 10 Years Old and Gets an Upgrade!

[G. David Felt]

 

The west coast green highway has served millions and the website has been a well used source to ensure all trip planning allowed for proper charging options to those using BEVs to go on a road trip.

Level 1 & 2 chargers with the occasional Level 3 fast DC charger has been the norm over the 10 year life for the WCEH. Now Washington and Oregon is moving forward to enhance this by contracting with EVCS who also purchased a series of charging sites in both states and will work with local state and county agencies to upgrade the 50kW DC chargers with CHAdeMO ports used by Nissan leafs to current high speed DC chargers with both CHAdeMO and CCS connectors.

These stations are spread out among I5, I90 and Highway 101 on the coast.

The benefits of this will be the following:

• Fast chargers every 25 to 50 miles along select routes
• Close proximity to freeway ramps
• Convenient parking
• Located in areas with secondary activities like restaurants and grocery stores.
• Easy access to picturesque locations like Oregon's Crater Lake, Multnomah Falls, Painted Hills, Washington's Snoqualmie Falls and Skagit Valley.

44 stations in Oregon and 12 stations in Washington have the following venues when it comes to charging needs:

• Ten (10) city properties (convention centers, visitor centers, parks, etc.)
• Nine (9) grocery stores
• Eight (8) restaurants
• Eight (8) miscellaneous properties ( Country stores, transit centers, office buildings, etc.)
• Seven (7) hotels and or motels
• Six (6) gas stations
• Five (5) Casinos
• Three (3) shopping malls.

The WCEH is the largest contiguous network of DC fast chargers in the North America giving confidence to travel up and down the west coast.

This is a welcome upgrade to the PNW and one of the largest expanding electric highway systems currently in North America.

West Coast Green Highway: Home

West Coast Electric Highway (evcs.com)

Oregon Department of Transportation : Electric Vehicles and EV Infrastructure : Programs : State of Oregon

Zero Emission Vehicle Infrastructure Partnerships | WSDOT (wa.gov)

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