SPOKANE — Within two decades, many Northwest residents could be driving electric vehicles, transforming the way the region uses energy.
Modeling by the Northwest Power and Conservation Council suggests that 25 percent of passenger vehicles in Washington, Idaho, Oregon and Montana could be electric by 2035. The prospect has significant implications for Avista Corp. and others, which are eager to understand how electric cars will affect demand for electricity.
Spokane-based Avista will begin installing 272 charging stations in Eastern Washington homes, workplaces and public areas this month to gather information on electric cars and recharging.
Just a smattering of Avista’s Washington customers currently own electric vehicles or plug-in electric-gas hybrids. Rendall Farley, who is in charge of Avista’s Electrification and Transportation Initiatives, said the number is probably between 350 and 400. But ownership is expected to grow rapidly as prices come down, selection increases and public policies encourage ownership of the less-polluting vehicles.
“It’s becoming more and more recognized that if we want to reduce emissions, we have to electrify transportation,” Farley said. “Driving electric means investing in an energy future that’s less expensive and much cleaner for the environment.”
About 45 percent of the state’s greenhouse gas emissions come from transportation. Driving an electric vehicle would lower emissions by about 80 percent over a gas-fueled vehicle, Farley said.
The Washington State Electric Vehicle Action Plan, adopted last year by the state Transportation Department, calls for increasing the number of electric vehicles in Washington from the current 16,500 to 50,000 within four years. Adding more plug-in vehicles to government fleets and building public stations to make fueling easier for drivers are part of the plan.
Both utilities and the public stand to benefit from the switch, said Massoud Jourabchi, the Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s manager of economic analysis.
For utilities, electric vehicles represent a new source of revenue, Jourabchi said. Electric vehicle adoption could grow Northwest utilities’ electric revenue by $450 million in the coming two decades. Most of the charging is expected to occur at night, when demand for electricity is low.
“People basically go home and plug it in and have their vehicle ready for the next day,” Jourabchi said.
Northwest drivers would benefit from lower fuel costs, he said. The four-state region spends about $14.5 billion dollars annually on gasoline, and fuel prices for electric vehicles are comparable to buying gas for less than $1 per gallon, Jourabchi said.
Avista doesn’t expect electric vehicle recharging to become a significant revenue source for another five to 10 years, Farley said.
But the utility wants to start collecting information about electric vehicles, including whether customers would forgo charging during peak electrical times, said Mary Tyrie, an Avista spokeswoman.
The Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission earlier this year approved Avista’s plan to spend $3 million on the charging station program. The utility expects to recover the cost of the two-year pilot through future electric rates.
Plugging an electric vehicle into a 110-volt outlet provides about 5 miles of driving distance per hour of charging, compared to about 25 miles per hour of charging with an AC Level 2 charging system.
“We know that 80 percent of charging occurs at home,” Farley said. “Another 15 percent occurs at work, where people are parked for a long time.”
