Sustainable Idaho is a collaboration between the Portneuf Resource Council and the ISU Sustainability Club. On today's episode, we're going to discuss the upcoming Pocatello Electric Vehicle Expo happening on September 28th. We are very happy to have the Board of Directors, Chair of the Portneuf Resource Council, Mike Engel, join us today and provide some information on the event.
The Portneuf Resource Council is sponsoring this exciting event. With the Portneuf Resource Council being in existence for 10 years, what is it and what are some of the organization's accomplishments? The Portneuf Resource Council is a grassroots 501c3 non profit organization. PRC advocates for clean water and clean energy with a focus on the Portneuf River Valley.
We have a number of significant accomplishments that we're proud of. In 2019, we sponsored and coordinated a solarized Pocatello campaign that resulted in residential solar installations on more than 80 homes in our local region. Since then, PRC has continued to advocate at the state level and with Idaho Public Utilities Commission for Idaho's right to own and control renewable energy on their own property.
In 2020, PRC created Sustainable Idaho and continues to provide financial and organizational support for the award winning podcast on KISU Public Radio. And recently, our clean water advocates in our group were instrumental in getting the clean water priorities added to Pocatello's recently approved 2040 comp plan.
Wow, that is super cool and impressive that you guys have accomplished that much in the past 10 years. With the Portneuf Resource Council sponsoring its third annual Electric Vehicle Expo, what can attendees expect and how will this year's event be different from previous years? This is indeed our third year sponsoring this event, which is coordinated with and held in conjunction with National Drive Electric Week.
This year will be the biggest and best expo yet for us. We will have more variety of both EVs and plug in hybrid EVs. However, in addition to the vehicles, there will be about a half hour of public speakers, including representatives from Idaho National Laboratory talking about new battery technology development they're working on.
Idaho Power will be talking about how their plans 100 percent clean energy and grid expansions will support the transition to EVs and Idaho's Office of Energy and Mineral Resources will be talking about their role in coordinating federal funds for a charging station infrastructure rollout across Idaho, which includes one of the first charging stations that is being targeted for the Pocatello region.
That is amazing that there will be many different kinds of electric vehicles and public speakers. With this event being free for the public to attend, who do you think might want to come to this event? I think the Pocatello EV Expo will be of interest, obviously, to EV enthusiasts and current EV owners.
But most importantly, I think it will be of interest to anyone who is curious about the ever increasing availability of electric vehicles. People will have a great opportunity to talk to current EV owners about popular questions regarding EV ownership. That is really cool. It sounds like an event everybody should go to.
With owners of electric vehicles present at the event, what do you expect people to learn from talking to these owners? We expect people will be able to learn the details of owning an electric vehicle. What's the same? What's different? How does charging actually work? How maintenance really is less for an EV compared to an ICE car.
ICE means a gas car or internal combustion engine. And how much fun the cars are to drive. There is so much misinformation and misperceptions out in the media about EVs. This will be an excellent opportunity to get questions answered by real EV owners with years and many miles of real life experience with their EVs.
That is really nice that there will be current electric vehicle owners there to answer any questions. With Idaho receiving 30 million from federal funding to install fast charging stations along Idaho's major roads, with this large amount of money, what does the future of electric vehicles in Idaho look like?
Well, that's a great question. And I think just like the rest of the country, the future of electric vehicles in Idaho is very bright. There are two things coming together that will accelerate the EV adoption rate in our state and nationwide. One is the rollout of the charging station infrastructure across the nation, and the other is when the price point of a new EV becomes less than the cost of a similarly equipped
iCE car. ICE stands for internal combustion engine. Both of these things are becoming a reality over the next couple years. It sounds like there is a very bright future for electric vehicles, not in just Pocatello, but everywhere in the U. S., and they are becoming more and more popular. Drivers have many different transportation needs.
Some people need a truck for hauling stuff, and others need a small around town car. With that said, what companies are manufacturing electric vehicles? Almost all major automakers have EV offerings in their current lineups right now. For example, Chevrolet, Ford, Dodge, Jeep, Kia, Toyota, Nissan, Volvo, Porsche, Mercedes, BMW, and others all have current EVs that you can buy today.
And some EVs have been available for years. from innovative EV startups like Tesla, Rivian, Lucid, Fisker, and Canoo. Wow, there are a lot of companies making electric vehicles, which is very beneficial for the public. Are there any tax breaks or credits when you buy an electric vehicle? There are tax credits being offered for new and used EVs, but it's complicated because the amount of the tax credit depends on how much of the car and battery is manufactured in the U. S. I encourage you to come to the EV Expo this year and PRC will have details about the tax credit at our table. That is really nice that there are tax credits and brakes when you buy an electric vehicle, which will really help electric vehicles become more popular. As the demand for electric vehicles is increasing and more companies are making them, is the distance for an electric vehicle still a big concern?
The distance an EV can travel is not much of an issue and will become a non issue as the charging station infrastructure is fully built out. As I mentioned earlier, Tesla is an early innovator of both EVs And what people don't realize is they were an innovator of the charging station infrastructure.
It is super nice to know that the distance an electric vehicle can travel is no longer an issue. How many electric vehicles will be present at the expo and what kinds? With the public, we have right now 13 unique and different EVs across many different manufacturers and different models. We have sedans, we have trucks, we have a 1965 Volkswagen conversion converted to all electric.
We have a lot of interesting vehicles and we have people there with a lot of experience who are really stoked to share their experience with the public. That is super cool that there are going to be that many different kinds of cars present at the Expo. Thank you, Mike, for joining us today and discussing the Pocatello Electric Vehicle Expo happening this Saturday from 9 a. m. to 1 p. m. at Lookout Point in the south parking lot of the Marshall Public Library. To learn more about the Expo, visit the Portneuf Resource Council website. We hope you can make it to the Electric Vehicle Expo. I'm your host, Parker Romero, and thank you for joining us today. Have an amazing day.
Funding for our Sustainable Idaho Student Hosts is provided in part by this radio station, the ISU Office for Research, and the Center for Ecological Research and Education through the ISU Career Path Internship Program. Direction, funding, and additional support is provided by the Portneuf Resource Council.
