| Commercial truckers driving through Washington and Oregon will be able to plug into electric power sources at rest stops as soon as this summer, saving money on fuel and cutting down on the amount of exhaust fumes polluting the air.
The federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has awarded the state Department of Ecology (DOE) a grant to fund 75 Truck Electrified Parking spaces at three truck stops across the Washington, including Horse Heaven Hills Travel Plaza in Prosser and two others that have yet to be identified. Truckers will be able to plug in to the electric service for about $1 an hour, as opposed to $3 for a gallon of diesel, the amount they would typically burn while idling for an hour.
The parking spaces will enable truckers to run air conditioning or heaters, televisions and microwaves while they take mandated breaks. The Oregon and Washington projects combined will save 6 million gallons of fuel and $12 million in net fuel costs during a five-year period, assuming the plug-ins are used just 50 percent of the time. |
