Oregon officials are announcing nearly two dozen cities where they want to put electric vehicle charging stations.
The cities that Oregon Transportation officials have chosen spread out along state highways away from the Portland area. Fully-electric vehicles tend to get up to 100 miles on a charge.
So, officials want to enable electric car drivers to reach the Coast, the Columbia Gorge and Central Oregon.
Art James with the Department of Transportation says the sites have to be within 50 miles of each other, in locations where there's sufficient power.
"The availability and cost of extending power to the charging sites, oftentimes eliminates candidates that are under consideration," he said.
In fact, James says the state had to drop one community from the list because it lacked the high-powered electrical infrastructure to set up a fast-charging station.
Thirteen of the 21 sites are either on the coast, or on the way there from the Willamette Valley. This federally-backed system would add to charging stations already underway for the I-5 corridor.
