Galena investigates electric vehicles
GILA Students check out a plug-in electric hybrid vehicle in Galena.
November 27, 2024
Michelle Wilber of ACEP and Jen Schmidt of University of Alaska Anchorage’s Institute of Social and Economic Research held a public meeting in Galena at the end of October to kick off the next phase in the , or EVITA, project.
While the potential for extreme cold and the rough roads demand robust vehicles, there is a lot of community interest in EVs. Community members already own a range of electric vehicles including electric bikes, a converted electric motorcycle, a plug-in electric hybrid car and a fully electric car.
is a project partner and is excited to develop EV maintenance curriculum for the . During classes the morning before the public meeting, GILA students had a chance to weigh in on the relative merits of available electric off-road vehicles and to check out the local plug-in hybrid.
The community meeting was a chance for attendees to learn more about this phase of the project, which started with working with the community and gathering data on existing vehicle use. It was also a good opportunity for the attendees to talk with researchers about current off-road EV choices on the market and share their preferences with the project team; the project includes funding to purchase off-road vehicles for data collection and performance analysis.
While in Galena, Wilber and Schmidt also worked with the project’s local lead Tim Bodony to install a vehicle logger in a participating vehicle to test the project’s ability to collect accurate vehicle use information, which will be needed to model effects of a switch to electric versions.
The EVITA project is funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation.