The Texas Department of Transportation has laid out a five year EV infrastructure plan which will add charging stations to major interstates.
Texas Tribune reported, “the plan is to have charging stations every 50 miles along most non-business interstate routes.”
The Texas Department of Transportation’s draft report on the plan says, “TxDOT [Texas Department of Transportation] will partner with the private sector to develop the EV Charging Network. Per FHWA [Federal Highway Administration] guidance the plan will start with the Electric Alternative Fuel Corridors then work with rural/small urban areas and MPOs [metropolitan planning organizations] across the state.”
It goes on, “Non-Alternative Fuel Corridors will be ranked by VMT [vehicle miles traveled] and developed in succession. County Seats will be the primary focus in rural areas with DC [direct current] Fast Charge stations and MPOs will install a combination of DC and Level II stations determined by the MPOs,” before adding the department will “balance the rollout of the network between urban and rural areas splitting funds per year on a 50/50 basis,” once the Electric Alternative Fuel Corridors are built.
Electric Alternative Fuel Corridor and Rural County Seat locations will feature 150-350kW Max Power chargers with a 45-minute time limit. Stations will recommend that vehicles be charged to 80%, and it is projected the charging stations will take a vehicle from a 10% charge to an 80% charge in about a half an hour.
The federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act passed last year will fund the project, allocating roughly $408 million over five years to expand EV charging infrastructure. No state budget funds will need to be allocated to the project. The bill’s national objective will be to create a network of 500,000 electric vehicle chargers by the year 2030. In addition, Texas will receive $35.44 billion over five years to fund construction on roads, bridges, popes, ports, broadband access, and other projects.
According to Texas DOT’s report, fewer than 1% of Texas’s cars are presently EVs, however the number has tripled since 2020, so the growth rate is, at least for now, exponential.
