Industry spotlight Sustainability
daily commute for workers in the U.S. is 25.5 minutes, and one in four commuters leaves their county
to work. Other reports put North Texas commutes up
over 28 minutes each way because of the desirability
of inexpensive housing and more square feet of space
farther out from major city areas.
With 30 plug-in vehicle models for sale in the U.S.
today, North Texans are finding several different options for EV automobiles. Major automakers such as
General Motors, Nissan and Mitsubishi have plug-in
vehicles for sale, which are seeing a response from
North Texas drivers. The Dallas-Fort Worth region is
currently the 14th-best-selling market for the Nissan
LEAF, for example.
Putting EVs to Work
Opportunities abound for employers in North Texas to
put the infrastructure that is already in place to work
for them. Local businesses from couriers to utilities
and more are seeing the fuel-savings advantage of a
fleet comprised of electric vehicles.
Other employers, seeking to attract environmentally-conscious employees who are interested in getting to work in a way that is sustainable, have taken
advantage of a program from eVgo called REV Work-
place. In this program, workplaces are trained on how
to be ready for electric vehicles.
Incentives are there for drivers who want to shift
their transportation lifestyle, as the State of Texas is
currently considering a $2500 sales tax exemption,
according to Plug In America, and drivers are already
taking advantage of a $2500-$7500 tax credit for electric drive and PHEVs, an incentive brought on by the
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
Already in North Texas, employers are incentivizing their employees to encourage adoption of EVs.
For example, employees of Green Mountain Energy in Plano and Reliant Energy in Irving, both NRG
entities, have $2,000 incentives available for employees
who choose to purchase an electric vehicle.
The biggest asset to North Texans is not just the
availability of charging stations, but also the fastcharging nature of the Freedom Station network, an
attractive option to fast-moving North Texans.
“These fast chargers allow you to charge your car
on the go in a manner of minutes, rather than hours,”
Buckland says. “Not every major area has this capability; it’s one of the largest fast-charging DC networks
in the country, right here. DFW competes with places
you might think have a lot of charging infrastructure.”
“You can drive
confidently
from Rockwall
in the east to
Weatherford
out west, Little
Elm up north
to DeSoto and
Lancaster in
the south.”
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