The costs of charging an electric vehicle in Oregon
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Portland is average when it comes to the price of charging an electric vehicle, but maybe not for long.
Why it matters: The push toward electric vehicles means Portlanders need to keep their eye on electricity prices if costly electric cars are to keep their cheap fuel advantage.
Between the lines: The city has a goal of reducing carbon emissions to net zero by 2050 and Oregon will ban the sale of new gas-powered vehicles by 2035.
Driving the news: The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality just announced that its Clean Vehicle Rebate program will reopen from April 3 to June 3.
- However, Portland General Electric raised residential rates by 18% in January and has proposed another 7.4% increase in 2025.
By the numbers: It costs an average of $0.43 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) to charge an electric car at a public charging station in Oregon.
- The national average is $0.45 per kWh.
Context: A typical EV with 300 miles of range usually takes about 75-100 kWh to go from empty to full, according to Stable Auto, an EV charger software developer.
- That's like paying $50 for a tank of gas in the more expensive states such as Arizona.
The big picture: Charging an electric vehicle costs three times as much at a public charging site in West Virginia than in Nebraska — a gap that suggests EV charging companies are still figuring out how to price a top-off.
Zoom in: West Virginia, Connecticut, Arizona, Massachusetts and Kentucky have the most expensive charging stations, ranging from $0.52 to $0.54 per kilowatt-hour.
- Nebraska, Mississippi, Iowa, North Dakota and Kansas were the cheapest, with prices spanning $0.17 to $0.31.
Editor's note: This story has been corrected to reflect that fast-charging an EV's battery to full in a state like Arizona may cost as much as $50 (not $5).