First electric vehicle charging station installed at Mount Pisgah

KLCC | By Noah Camuso

Published March 23, 2022 at 5:25 PM PDT

Lane County Public Works Analyst Nathan Mitchell-Hooks is hopeful that Lane County will be able to install more EV chargers at Mount Pisgah and around Eugene in the near future. “We are so excited to make this charging station available to the hundreds of thousands of visitors who come to Mt. Pisgah each year," Mitchell-Hooks said. "We all worked together on this project and hope that it’s the first of many.”

Lane County finished installation of an electric vehicle charger at Mt. Pisgah. KLCC’s Noah Camuso reports on the opening event held Wednesday.

Lane County Public Works Analyst Nathan Mitchell-Hooks says they’ve been working to install an EV charger at the Mt. Pisgah site since late 2020.

"Although expanding infrastructure to support the county's adoption of EVs is really our primary goal, whenever we do these installations, we strive to make charging available to the public wherever possible," Mitchell-Hooks said.

The project was made possible in part from a $24,000 grant from Emerald People’s Utility District.

Long-time Eugene resident Mary Parker comes to Mount Pisgah three to four times a week. She says she’s excited for the new charging station.

"My next car is going to be an electric," Parker said. "I think it’s environmentally correct. Eugene wants people to go electric and they're giving rewards for that."

The charger is located at the main parking lot at Howard Buford Recreation Area. It can serve two cars at the same time and costs $1 an hour to use.

Noah Camuso, KLCC News.