BEND, OR -- More than three dozen new charging ports for electric vehicles are coming to Deschutes County this year. Six others are slated for the parking lot at Deer Ridge prison in Madras, and four more in Warm Springs, "That’s due to a rebate program that we run here at ODOT, to reimburse most of the project costs of installing Level-two EV chargers," says Matt Noble, with the Oregon Department of Transportation, "Those are the ones that can charge up EVs in about six to eight hours."

The goal is to get more EV chargers in more public places. "Multi-family homes, like apartment complexes or condominiums, and also public parking areas, public parks, shopping centers or really anywhere you would go in your public daily life," says Noble. In Bend, new ports will be installed in the city’s parking garage and several multi-family housing complexes. A few local hotels are also included, like the Ponderosa Lodge in Sisters. "We’re really targeting areas, here at the state, that have seen less investment from the private sector," Noble tells KBND News, "Specifically, that’s more rural parts of the state and communities that have been traditionally underserved by transportation systems, in general."

Funding was distributed last fall, "We’re expecting all 370 new charging ports to be completed before the end of 2024. So that’s 94 individual projects, 23 counties." Another round of funding is expected in March.