I'm not from Oregon nor even from the US, but I've been watching the progress very closely of the Norwegian car company known as Think, that makes a pretty cool electric car that sells for about $20,000 in Norway, and is now touring various US states as it looks to set up a plant in the US to manufacture the cars there too.
The "winning" state will then get all the jobs that this entails - 300 to start, up to 900 or so later on. Here are two articles with videos showing the governor checking out the car and announcing that he plans to give tax benefits to both manufacturers and consumers in order to make this happen:
http://www.kgw.com/...
http://www.katu.com/...
The governor announced two tax breaks in the Legislature, one for businesses making the electric car and another for buyers. Both bills have hearings next week.
Since they have hearings next week I hope some of the people here that know a bit about Oregon can keep a closer eye on the hearings and perhaps lend some support.
If you're curious what the car is actually like, take a look at this video:
http://www.youtube.com/...
It has a top speed of 110 kph (65 mph, right?) and can run for 200 km or so. And best of all, it looks like a normal car. No three wheels, no weird design.
It also comes in black and a number of other colours:
http://www.youtube.com/...
http://www.youtube.com/...
(those two are from the Netherlands)
IMO in the next five to ten years it's actually going to be a bit embarrassing to still be driving a gas-powered car and that's when the huge paradigm shift will take place. Imagine being the only person that has to make a stop at the gas station to fork out a huge amount of money while all your friends are good for the day because they charged up their cars the night before.