Texas gets electric car infrastructure, Reliant Energy to build charging stations

Reliant will install and operate public charging stations.
AP Photo

It looks like Texans soon will be able to drive electric vehicles across the state. Reliant Energy and Nissan Motor Co. announced today that they will work together on establishing infrastructure, policies and services to support electric vehicle owners across Texas.

“We can now see a clear path to having thousands – even hundreds of thousands – of zero-emission vehicles on Texas roads in the next several years”, said Jason Few, President of Reliant Energy. “By adding a robust charging network and services dedicated to electric vehicles, we will be able to offer a viable alternative to fossil-fuel powered transportation”.

Reliant and Nissan will initially focus on the Houston region and expect infrastructure and services to be in place in the late 2010 to support the commercial introduction of the Nissan LEAF. Nissan’s new five-passenger, compact all-electric car that will be eligible for a $7,500 federal tax credit, will be capable of achieving 100 miles on a single charge.

“This agreement with Nissan is another part of our comprehensive effort to speed up the adoption of a broad-based electric powered transportation system”, said David Crane, CEO of NRG Energy, the parent company of Reliant.

The lack of distribution infrastructure has long been an obstacle for a wider use of alternative fuel vehicles, in September auto giant Daimler and German Utility RWE announced they would build an electric-car filling station network. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said earlier this year she hopes Germany will have 1 million electric cars on the roads by 2020.

But she is not alone in her vision of alternative fuel vehicles zipping along the roads. A new Texas law requires state agencies to run 50 percent of their vehicles on alternative fuels 80 percent of the time, and to increase the percentage of newly purchased low-emission state vehicles from 10 to 25 percent. The state fleet is currently comprised of about 27,000 vehicles distributed among 95 agencies.

“House Bill 432 addresses the fact that our state is a leader in the research and production of alternative fuels, but we lack the infrastructure to get drivers who would use it to fuel their vehicles”, Governor Perry said at a ceremonial bill signing in Dallas in August. “Since our state already spends money on a fleet, this bill requires it to include vehicles that use alternative fuel. That will drive the creation of a basic distribution infrastructure and take advantage of the fuels we produce in Texas, including natural gas coming from the Barnett Shale”.

The strategy is similar to the one announced by AT&T. The Dallas based company stated earlier this year that it will work with natural gas service providers to build up to 40 new compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling stations, start retiring its fleet of gasoline-powered vehicles and invest up to $565 million in alternative fuel vehicles.

And now Reliant and NRG Energy wants to speed up the use of electric vehicles.

“We have much of the needed infrastructure in place - an excellent road system, a diverse national portfolio of power generation, and the means to deliver electricity to homes, offices, businesses and streets across the nation”, says Crane. “Now we need to focus on tying these elements together with the technology, services and policies needed to power electric transportation”.