588 Or More New Public EV Chargers Coming To Texas

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The Texas Transportation Commission recently authorized Phase II of the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program to proceed with approximately $250 million in funding for more public EV chargers in Texas.

Phase I provided $53 million in federal funding for 65 electric vehicle charging sites and 15 of them have been completed. These charging stations usually have at least four charging ports and many are at least 180 kW, so they are fast chargers, but not ultra-fast. 

If each of the new Phase II charging sites has four charging ports, the total number of new charging ports will be 588, but some of the NEVI charging sites have more than four charging ports. Therefore, there is a chance there may be well over 600 new charging ports coming to Texas and many will be fast chargers.

One of the main goals of the NEVI program is installing public EV chargers right next to or near common travel corridors to support long-distance EV driving trips. Another is to fill in charging gaps in rural areas. “The typical design for Phase II stations will be 4 ports with power sharing between dispensers and a total power footprint of at least 300kW. In this configuration if one vehicle is charging, they would be capable of receiving full power, two vehicles half power, etc. Proposed stations within 1 mile of an Alternative Fuel Corridor will continue to be 4+ ports and 150kW per port. Installing DC Fast Charge stations at county seats with a minimum of four ports and up to 300kW will fill gaps across rural Texas for off-interstate travelers and enable local farm and work trucks to access the charging network.”

Texas reportedly has over 330,000 fully electric vehicles — not counting hybrids. Installing more public EV chargers supports greater EV adoption because there is less “range anxiety” when there are more chargers available. Today’s electric vehicles typically have enough range for most driving scenarios, meaning it is not necessary to have an EV with 600 miles of range like some anti-EV people try to claim.

There are over 71,000 public fast chargers in the US, though many Americans may not know how many there are. There are also far more home chargers — a fact that is often overlooked, and home charging is much more convenient than driving a gas or diesel vehicle to a gas station.

In the state of Texas, natural gas and coal generation provide quite a bit of electricity, but wind power and solar power are catching up. Electricity generation from solar power in Texas may exceed that from coal. “In our most recent Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), we forecast that annual electric power generation from utility-scale solar will surpass that from coal for the first time in 2026 within the electricity grid that covers most of Texas. Solar generation is expected to reach 78 billion kilowatt-hours (BkWh) in 2026 in the electricity grid operated by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) compared with 60 BkWh for coal.”

Texas is also the #1 wind power state in the US. It’s worth mentioning how much clean electricity there is in Texas because a portion of it is used to charge electric vehicles in the Lone Star State.