According to recent articles in the Seattle Times and EcoGeek, the governors of California, Oregon and Washington are considering a plan that would allow motorists travelling along U.S. Interstate 5 to charge or change electric-vehicle batteries, or to fill fuel tanks with biodiesel, ethanol, hydrogen or compressed natural gas when they stop at rest stops offering alternative fuelling stations.
(The governors are calling this a green highway, but unless we figure out to fuel cars with the trash dropped by drivers daily, I-5 won’t have quite earned that title.)
Apparently, Governor Christine Gregoire of Washington hopes to begin work in her state as early as this summer. Oregon and California are not likely to start on their sections of the project as early. One of the hurdles to the entire project will be to get approval from the federal government for commercial development alongside an interstate.
The National Association of Truck Stop Operators (NATSO) and national gasoline distribution groups oppose the project, which they say provides unfair competition. I confess, I don’t see how they can call it competition unless they start offering alternative fuelling stations of their own, and in sufficient numbers and distribution to provide an equivalent service.
I-5 stretches about 1,380 from Tijuana, Baja California to White Rock, British Columbia. Traffic volume varies along the long ribbon of asphalt, reaching 353,000 vehicles/day in San Diego, 598,000 in Los Angeles, 388,000 in Sacramento, 145,000 near Portland, and 274,000 in Seattle.
There already are dozens of alternative fuelling stations offering compressed natural gas, ethanol or biodiesel in Washington, Oregon and California, but the closest hydrogen station is right here at Humboldt State University.
