At the direction of the Oregon Legislature, the Oregon Department of Transportation and the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality have produced a report analyzing existing incentives available to support the transition to Zero Emission Vehicles for Medium- and Heavy-Duty transportation fleets. The agencies were further directed to research incentives offered in other states and to provide recommendations on expanding or creating incentives to support Oregon businesses in the transition. This report includes analyses on incentives for both vehicles and electric charging or other fuel infrastructure

Two listening sessions were held to provide space for comments and feedback from stakeholders on the MHD ZEV incentive Report. May 31 and September 27, 2022.

In 2021, Governor Kate Brown stated that Oregon has experienced more extreme weather events, chronic heat and drought, flooding and more intense wildfires as a result of climate change. The Governor also acknowledged and supported Oregon’s efforts on addressing climate change through the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. According to the Oregon Global Warming Commission, state-wide emissions must be reduced by over 50 percent to meet Oregon’s 2035 GHG reduction goal.

Political experts have noted a pattern of politicians setting high goals in the future -- when they may no longer expect to be in office -- and then failing to meet them.

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

The report, entitled Incentives to Support the Transition to Zero Emissions for Medium-and Heavy-duty Sectors in Oregon identifies the significant bottleneck to advancement of these initiatives: Electric Charging Infrastructure. Zero emission vehicle adoption for Medium- and Heavy-Duty is only possible if the infrastructure needed to charge or refuel electric vehicles exists. This is a key barrier to both battery and fuel cell electric vehicle adoption, particularly in the medium- and heavy-duty sectors.

According to Atlas Public Policy, the U.S. will need between $100 billion and $166 billion in charging infrastructure investment this decade to support 100% electric truck sales by 2040. There are many types of medium- and heavy-duty battery electric vehicles, and each vehicle type will have different charging needs based on vehicle size, usage schedule and application. The primary EV chargers utilized in the Medium- and Heavy-Duty sector are Level 2 chargers and Direct Current Fast Chargers.

According to the report, many stakeholders brought up the issue that for some sectors, specifically non-road and long haul vehicles, technology does not exist right now for them to adopt ZEV vehicles. Whether the vehicles are not made for the application, the load, or the range it will limit who the early adaptor sectors and use cases are for incentives.

Comments on the draft report are due Oct. 10 at noon. The report is due by Dec. 1, 2022.


--Staff Reports

Post Date: 2022-10-06 06:50:51

Last Update: 2022-10-05 12:55:53