Texas recently signed off on a new plan that could facilitate electric vehicle travel across the Lone Star State.
The Texas Transportation Commission (TTC) voted unanimously on Wednesday to approve new requirements mandating EV charging stations feature Tesla-branded connectors in order for EV charging station companies to become eligible for federal taxpayer money provided through the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, Reuters reported.
The policy decision is a major win for Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who has been trying to get his EV charging connectors to become the standard across the nation. The mandate will also help the state grow its emerging charging network and expand accessibility along Texas’ 3,500 miles of designated EV corridors, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
Under the new rule, EV charging companies will be required to incorporate a Combined Charging System and Tesla’s North American Charging Standard (NACS) in all DC Fast Charging Stations throughout the state.
The two-connector approach will likely help assure coverage for about 97% of all the electric vehicles with fast charge ports in Texas, of which there are nearly 170,000, according to Humberto Gonzalez, director of transportation planning and programming at the Texas Department of Transportation, Reuters reported.
The new charging requirements were first discussed in June, but a vote on the decision was deferred until August 16 over pushback from EV charging companies. The companies had asked the TTC for extra time to reengineer the stations and to test the Tesla-branded plugs.
Texas’ new mandate will likely put pressure on other states to adopt Tesla’s NACS technology, according to Lew Cox, MD7’s director of business development. By requiring Tesla plugs in all EV charging stations, it effectively makes NACS the new charging standard, he said back in June, per Reuters.
Several legacy automakers have already agreed to incorporate Tesla’s NACS technology. Automobile manufacturers that have embraced the technology and plan on adopting it by 2025 include Ford Motor Co. and General Motors, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
