AUSTIN — Texans are known for their long road trips, and gas stations dot the state’s highways to keep them driving, but drivers in electric vehicles may experience something else: “range anxiety.”
Texas lags other states in adopting EVs, and lacks essential charging stations needed to keep the electric engines powered. But as Tesla, Ford and Rivian increase mass production of electric vehicles, lawmakers are trying to lay the groundwork for easier adoption.
In the Legislature’s regular session that ended May 29, EV advocates successfully nudged several bills to passage — not all they wanted, but enough, they say, to keep momentum going for an essential ingredient: more charging stations.
“When you look at reasons people don’t buy electric vehicles, No. 1 is cost, and that’s changing rapidly” and decreasing, said Tom “Smitty” Smith, executive director of the Texas Electric Transportation Resources Alliance, and an electric vehicle owner. “The No. 2 [reason] is charging access or range anxiety.”
The number of gas stations in Texas dwarfs the number of available chargers. There are more than 12,000 devices — or pumps — in the Lone Star State from which one can fuel up a gas-powered car. Meanwhile, there are only about 2,900 charging stations in Texas.
There are about 18.7 charging stations per 100,000 residents, putting Texas 36th among states, according to data by the software company CoPilot. Vermont and California rank No. 1 and 2, respectively, and the top 10 states have at least 55 charging stations per 100,000 residents.
But new laws signed by Gov. Greg Abbott will help fast-track development of more charging stations as electric vehicle ownership increases.
One law — Senate Bill 1001 — also increases transparency by displaying the cost to use a charger before charging and creates a process for the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation to inspect the chargers — similar to how it inspects gas stations.
Another — Senate Bill 1002 — ensures that utility companies can’t undercut private retailers and other businesses that offer charging stations by offering charging at a lower rate. Advocates say the measure is vital to building out a network of charging stations.
The presence of more charges is particularly important to electric vehicle owners who are unable to charge their vehicles at home.
Neal Farris, an electric vehicle owner in Dallas and vice president of the North Texas Electric Vehicle Auto Association, owns an electric BMW i3. He charges at home and said he has rarely used a public charger. He believes charging stations will be less important as more gas stations offer chargers.
“Those destination charge stations are going to become irrelevant over time,” Farris said.
But that future is likely to be decades away.
There are more than 202,800 electric vehicles registered in Texas, according to Texas Department of Transportation data compiled by the Dallas Fort Worth-Clean Cities Coalition. As of 2021, there were more than 20 million gasoline-powered vehicles registered in the state, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
The federal government under President Joe Biden has hoped to incentivize purchasing electric vehicles, which are seen as a cleaner fuel source that will cut down on emissions. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 gave Texas $400 million in federal funds. The state has said it plans to use that money to build more than 50 new charging stations along state highways.
TxDOT aims to have a charging station every 50 to 70 miles, according to a plan released in 2022, and will award contracts to build those stations. No contracts have been awarded yet, a department spokesman said. The plan does not set a time frame for completing the stations.
Some say the shift to electric vehicles raises equity questions. Research has shown that the average owner of an electric vehicle tends to be white and college-educated, living in a single-family home. The average price of a new electric vehicle in May was $55,488, according to Kelly Blue Book.
Car companies hope to help bridge the gap in electric vehicle ownership among demographic groups.
General Motors has announced plan to make electric vehicles for everyone. Elon Musk, the chief executive of Austin-based Tesla, has repeatedly touted the idea of producing a Tesla that sells for $25,000.
“I think they’re going to take a more practical profile here pretty quickly,” said state Sen. Nathan Johnson, D-Dallas. “If we’re going to see an electric vehicle adoption on a large scale beyond the novelty and luxury level that it presently occupies, we are going to need serious build-out of that infrastructure here.”