The oil and gas capital of the United States is also aiming to be the capital of sustainable energy, at least according to Houston mayor Annise Parker, who just launched the Houston Drives Electric program.
The city opened four public eVgo electric charging stations in September, and plans to install 21 more in 2011. An additional 25 are planned for 2012, along with 35 in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. You can see the map of planned locations here.
This means Houston will have more public charging stations than any city in the United States. The stations have a two-car capacity, with both a 480-volt fast charger and a 240-volt charger, but you don’t pay as you would at a gas station. Users sign up for a monthly plan that can encompass their home-use charges as well.
Other states are also adding electric charging stations. Sixteen states, including California, New York and Hawaii, have received a total of $8.5 million in federal stimulus money through the Department of Energy’s Clean Cities initiative to support infrastructure and plug-in stations for EVs. Charging stations from AeroVironment have opened in hotels in Waikiki and more are planned for Maui — Hawaii has plans for 250 stations. If everything is bigger in Texas, with only 85 stations in the pipeline, the Lone Star state will have to stay charged up if they want to stay ahead of the no-emissions pack.
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