Ecotality, a developer of electric transportation and storage technologies, has expanded the EV Project to Southern Oregon to include the Ashland and Medford areas, where electric vehicle (EV) charging stations will be installed.

Simultaneously, the state will extend the system of I-5 corridor fast chargers from Eugene south to the California border creating a system of EV charging stations along the entire length of Interstate 5 in Oregon.

Ecotality, which plans to install more than 1,100 publicly available EV charging stations in Northwestern Oregon, will place approximately 20 stations in Medford and Ashland that will be arriving in the area after January 2011.

Ecotality has partnered with local area stakeholders, the Rogue Valley Clean Cities Coalition, and the PacifiCorp, an electric utility, to advance this project, which will involve the installation of Blink Network EV charging station unit in the homes of EV Project participants.

The $230m EV project, funded with a $114.8m grant from the US Department of Energy under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, includes 16 cities and major metropolitan areas in six states, leading to the deployment of approximately 15,000 charging stations by June 2011.

Ecotality North America president Don Karner said that the EV infrastructure that Ecotality provides allows EV users the freedom to travel without limitations and the expansion in Oregon is a step closer in Ecotality’s plan to provide for the national movement towards EVs.