Portland State gets four emissions-free RAV4s for commuter project

Portland State is receiving four RAV4-EV emissions-free vehicles from Toyota as part of new university program that would take commuters from main transit terminal areas to stops downtown and in area suburbs.

Toyota announced the donation of the vehicles Sept. 24, at the company’s sustainable mobility seminar held in Portland. The goal of the program will be to establish a “shared-use commuter program” that will provide a service to working people going to and from their homes, according to a Toyota press release.

George Beard, adjunct associate professor at PSU’s Hatfield School of Government, refers to the vehicles’ intended travel route as “the last mile.”

Beard said PSU will continue to develop the program in conjunction with a similar program at the University of California, Irvine.

U.C. Irvine’s program, called Zero Emission Vehicle-Network Enabled Transport program, allows commuters to take a train to a designated area where the RAV4 is parked, then use the electric vehicle to drive to their workplace.

Then, throughout the day, the vehicle can be used for local business trips until it is taken back to its designated parking area in order for the vehicle’s electric battery to charge.

PSU’s program is modeled after this process, although it is still in its earliest stages, Beard said.

“We still haven’t picked the partners yet,” Beard said. “PSU is hosting the project. PSU might just be the guinea pig.”

The RAV4-EVs, which are refurbished 2002 and 2003 models, are powered by nickel-metal hydride batteries, which last about 80 miles between electric charges, according to Toyota’s press release.

Beard said society’s dependence on automobiles has always been hampered by the internal workings of the vehicles–the internal combustion engine.

“The culture of automobiles is rooted in internal combustion–liquid fuel–and that isn’t going to go away,” Beard said.

He also said that no one has thought much about alternative energy, and that programs like PSU’s could help.

“The Portland region is uniquely positioned to become a leader of the deployment of electric vehicles,” George Beard said. “The appearance of these [vehicles] is going to be sooner than most people believe.”

One of the main problems, Beard said, is learning to transition towards more environmentally and economically friendly transportation technology.

“People [here] think about conservation, environmental protection, that is unusually high compared to the rest of the country,” Beard said.