Grounded: a Podcast by the Oregon Department of Energy

Episode 53: Fueling EVs in rural Oregon

Grounded: a Podcast by the Oregon Department of Energy

Show Notes

Fully electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles are powered by electricity, so they need to “fuel up” at charging stations. While as much as 80 percent of charging happens at home, public chargers allow those without access to home charging and those traveling farther distances to recharge their batteries. On this episode, we discuss EV charger availability and reliability and get a first-person perspective of EVs in rural Oregon.

Guests: Jillian DiMedio, ODOE Senior Energy Policy Analyst; Steve Gutmann, co-founder of EVmath; and Robert Wallace, executive director Wy’East RC&D

Grounded music by PaulYudin Sound Effect by freesound_community from Pixabay

Resources • Biennial Zero Emission Vehicle Report : https://www.oregon.gov/energy/energy-oregon/Pages/BIZEV.aspx • EVmath.org: https://www.evmath.org/ • Wy'East RC&D: https://www.wyeast-rcd.org/ • Oregon Electric Vehicle Dashboard: https://www.oregon.gov/energy/Data-and-Reports/Pages/Oregon-Electric-Vehicle-Dashboard.aspx • ODOT’s National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Program: https://www.oregon.gov/odot/climate/Pages/NEVI.aspx • DEQ’s Zero-Emission Fueling Infrastructure Grant: https://www.oregon.gov/deq/aq/programs/Pages/OZEF.aspx

More from Grounded: a Podcast by the Oregon Department of Energy

Sep 23, 2026

School season is all year round for ODOE’s schools program team. School districts in Portland General Electric and Pacific Power territories, like Bend-LaPine, are eligible to use Public Purpose Charge Schools Program funds for energy audits, projects, or for electric vehicles or chargers. Energy efficiency is a key part of the Oregon Energy Strategy and provides a more comfortable learning environment for students and teachers.

Aug 26, 2026

Get grounded in energy fundamentals with our mini-episode series: Getting Grounded. Just what are heat pumps and what is a mini split? Get introduced to heat pumps -- an efficient way to heat and cool your home.

Jul 8, 2026

Portland General Electric and Coos-Curry Electric Cooperative discuss how they are planning for an increasing number of electric vehicles plugging into their networks and incentives available for customers.

Jun 3, 2026

ODOE’s 2026-2029 Strategic Plan is out now, and our guests walk us through the plan, sharing their hopes of how it will strengthen the agency’s efficiency and effectiveness as we work as a cohesive unit to address our greatest energy challenges.

May 4, 2026

All around us, natural and working lands – from forests, to crops, to wetlands, and parks – are putting in work to benefit Oregonians.

See all episodes →