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Electric vehicle charging stations in the Houston area have increased by 30% since last April

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Editor’s note: The story is published as part of a pilot partnership with Community Impact and the University of Houston. The student journalists were compensated by UH’s Cougar Initiative to Engage, or CITE, grant.

The Greater Houston area has seen a notable increase in the creation of public electric vehicle charging stations since 2012, with an increase of more than 30% since last April alone, according to data from the Alternative Fuels Data Center of the US Department of Energy.

“We are seeing a notable increase in public electric vehicle charging projects,” Casey Brown, president and executive director of the nonprofit Evolve Houston, said in an email. “The growing deployment of charging stations over the past few years demonstrates the demand for electric vehicles in Houston, which really took off in mid-2021 and hasn’t declined since.

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Since 2020, Houston has seen several plans aimed at reducing community emissions, modernizing infrastructure, and promoting electric vehicle adoption among Houstonians. The available network of public charging stations has been propelled by initiatives such as the Texas Department of Transportation’s Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Plan.

TxDOT’s plan, launched in 2022, focused on expanding the state’s electric vehicle infrastructure to support TxDOT’s estimate of one million electric vehicles in Texas by 2031.

According to plan information, TxDOT officials aim to develop fast-charging stations at least every 50 miles along alternative electric fuel corridors (designated non-commercial highways) and every 70 miles in more rural areas, which which means Texans will see approximately 56 new charging station locations. across the state.

Meanwhile, the City of Houston launched the Climate Action Plan in 2020, setting a goal of converting light-duty, non-emergency municipal vehicles to 100% electric vehicles by 2030, including the Metropolitan Transit Authority from Harris County and city airport buses. The Resilient Houston Plan, launched the same year, is a partnership between the city and Evolve Houston aimed at increasing electric vehicles to 30% of new car sales by 2030.

Additionally, the city of Houston has applied for a federal grant from President Joe Biden’s administration that would allocate $15 million to expand charging stations in underserved and low-income areas.

If approved, the grant plan would deploy 366 chargers to Houston’s city-owned libraries, parks and community centers, according to the city’s website.

Brown said he has confidence in Houston as a growing landscape for electric vehicle owners. Evolve Houston is working to expand electric vehicle adoption throughout the city.

“Houston’s population diversity and density per square mile make it difficult to compare apples to apples with other major cities,” Brown said. “What’s important to note is that Houston has maintained great momentum through 2024.”

Brown said the city of Houston closed out 2023 with 14% of new vehicles registered being some form of electric vehicle. Additionally, registration data from the Alternative Fuels Data Center shows that the number of charging stations in Houston has more than doubled since January 2021.

Among major Texas cities, Houston is behind Austin in terms of registered electric vehicle charging stations.

However, Austin exceeds Houston’s number of charging stations per capita. With 393 registered electric vehicle charging stations in Houston, there are just over 17 charging stations per 100,000 residents, based on 2020 population data from the U.S. Census Bureau. That’s less than 27% of Austin’s 63 charging stations per 100,000 residents.

As of May 8, there were 275,717 electric vehicles registered in the state of Texas and 39,831 in Harris County alone, according to data from Dallas-Fort Worth Clean Cities and the North Central Texas Council of Governments. However, electric vehicles only make up 1.17% of all vehicles registered in Houston, compared to 2.61% in Austin.

Electric vehicle charging stations in the Houston area are centralized around the city’s major highways, such as I-10 and Hwy. 59. There is also an emerging concentration of charging stations in the inner loop of the city, concentrated in areas such as Downtown, Montrose and River Oaks.

Brown said Evolve Houston is focused on filling the gaps in electric vehicle charging stations.

“Our Regional Infrastructure for Electrification (RISE) Study report found a lack of public charging stations for electric vehicles in low-income areas,” Brown said. “Part of our business is to actively work to ensure that electric vehicle charging becomes an equitable service for all Houstonians. »

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