It’s one of those Catch-22 situations: with high gas prices and concern over greenhouse-gas emissions, people say they would buy electric vehicles. However, fast-charging stations are few and far between, making electric vehicles only a short-range solution to ecological travel. Manufacture and purchase of electric vehicles have therefore been slow to expand. (There are fewer than 50 all-electric cars in environment-conscious Oregon, for example). And with few electric vehicles on the road, who would take on the expense and risk of building those stations in the hope that “they will come”? It turns out that there are public-private partnerships that are moving forward to build Level 2 and Level 3 charging stations to expand the infrastructure to support electric vehicles beyond their typical 100-mile range. Last year the governors of Oregon, Washington and California signed an agreement to create a “Green Highway” along the Interstate 5 corridor so that travelers could drive from Vancouver, B.C., to San Diego, assured of the ability to quickly charge their vehicles along the way. Level 3 fast-charging stations (480 volts) allow a Nissan Leaf to charge in 30 minutes or less, while Level 2 (240 volts) will charge a vehicle in three to four hours. The first publically accessible Level 3 in the nation was installed in Oregon by Portland General Electric in that city’s World Trade Center. By the end of this year, however, Aero Vironment hopes to have eight such stations open for business along I-5 between Eugene and the Oregon-California border. In conjunction with the Oregon Department of Transportation and using a federal grant, the company will locate the stations thirty miles apart within a quarter-mile of the freeway near rest rooms, convenience stores and other amenities. Exact locations and the fee for a charge have not yet been set. A separate development, the EV Project (a joint venture between the U.S. Department of Energy and San Francisco-based ECOtality) will be installing a few fast-chargers and nearly 1,000 Level 2 chargers north from Eugene to Portland, giving EV owners coverage from one end of the state to the other. The EV Project is involved in similar projects in six other states and the District of Columbia and foresees a presence all across the country by 2013. It will be exciting to see the development and expansion of this new mode of transportation not only in my home state but across the country in the years to come. — Patty Vanikiotis, associate editor/copy editor