Lincoln City officials are charged up about the idea of being the first community on the Oregon coast to offer charging stations for plug-in electric vehicles (EVs).

Two of six stations were officially dedicated Monday afternoon during a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the SW 50th St. parking lot in the Taft district.

Two EVs were parked at the side-by-side installation to demonstrate how the ChargePoint stations - manufactured by California-based Coulomb Technologies and distributed by Woodinville, Wash.-based Charge Northwest - function. The stations currently operate on 110 volts, and take about six to eight hours to provide a full charge. Coulomb is scheduled to upgrade them to 220 volts in March or April, which Charge Northwest representative Jim Blaisdell said would cut the charging time to two to three hours.

Lincoln City purchased six stations from Coulomb and Charge Northwest for $22,620. They feature cell phone interfaces with Coulomb Network that allows customers with Internet access to locate the units and determine their availability.

Use is free until this autumn, when a $3 fee per charge takes effect.

During Monday night’s city council session, City Manager David Hawker said the Taft installation cost $3,500 - with $2,900 going to upgrade wiring in the city restroom, to which the charging stations are connected. Hawker said selecting the site for the first two stations was “a judgment call,” noting they “wanted to support the merchants.”



Location, location, location



Getting folks to patronize nearby businesses is the linchpin of the location selection process.

Four more stations are tentatively scheduled for installation - two each at the Lincoln City Community Center at the north end of town, and the centrally located Lincoln City Cultural Center. Hawker said the “preferable option” for placement at the community center would cost $4,000. That includes moving the bus shelter and creating two new parking spaces to alleviate community center staff concerns about losing two parking places.

Hawker said the cultural center site presents its own problems, mainly a “maxed out” electrical system that requires an upgrade, and working with the center directors to determine an acceptable location, again centered on parking availability. But for the long-term perspective, he said location, not cost, is the most vital factor.

Concerns about the price tag at the community center led council members Gary Ellingson and Dick Anderson to suggest the NW 17th St. parking lot in the Oceanlake district as an alternative.

Urban Renewal Director Kurt Olsen tossed the two parking lots on NW 15th St. into the mix as possible sites.

“Either place is acceptable,’ said Mayor Lori Hollingsworth, who - backed by council member Sharon Cannon - supported the community center as “a nice central location” and “a great hub” of activity within walking distance of the beach, Oceanlake businesses, even the casino, along with access to the bus stop.

Noting that he wasn’t sure residents would use the stations, most likely preferring to charge their EVs at home, Gary Ellingson said, “We want to make sure the locations we’re choosing are the best places for visitors to use them.”

“The key is having close proximity to places where they can go kill some time,” Anderson added.

Council member Chester Noreikis asked Hawker to do a cost comparison of the sites, and provide a report at the Jan. 25 council session.



Two kinds of green



Hollingsworth cited the charging station installation as another example of Lincoln City’s commitment to going green by taking action to reduce emissions that cause global climate change.

It could also generate another kind of green.

Hollingsworth, Hawker, Olsen, and Sandy Pfaff, executive director of the city’s visitor and convention bureau, said the effort puts the city on the electric vehicle map, and should give its tourism-based economy a huge jolt during the next decade.

Currently, Oregon has only 400 registered all-electric vehicles, but state officials estimate that within a decade, plug-in cars could make up 20 percent of all new vehicles sold in Oregon. Nissan anticipates delivering 1,000 of its electric Leaf hatchback to the Portland area this year.

The average traveler to Lincoln City (within city limits, not immediate surrounding areas), Pfaff and Olsen noted in a Dec. 14 memo to council members, spends $100 per trip. Vehicles carry an average of 2.5 occupants.

“If we get half of those 1,000 cars to come to Lincoln City for a weekend or vacation in 2010, the charging stations will generate $125,000 in tourism revenue,” Olsen and Pfaff wrote. “If the estimate by the state is true, by the end of the decade, the charging stations could generate (or save the loss of) as much as $40 million in annual tourism revenue simply by making travel here by electric car possible.”

By providing access to charging stations, Pfaff said the city could not only maintain, but enhance its $200-million annual share of the tourism market as EV use proliferates.



Terry Dillman is the assistant editor of the News-Times. Contact him at (541) 265-8571, ext 225, or terrydillman@newportnewstimes.com.



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