A significant build out of charging stations will be needed to accommodate as many as 40,000 electric vehicles projected to be on San Antonio roads by 2030, a new study finds.
Environment Texas and a coalition of other groups released an electric vehicles study entitled “Plugging In” early Monday afternoon.
The sponsored study shows that the Alamo City will need 1,340 more public charging stations for electric vehicles by 2030, nearly eight times as many as the 176 stations available here now.
“This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to change the market,” Environment Texas Executive Director Luke Metzger said at a Monday afternoon press conference at San Antonio College’s Eco Centro.
The city of San Antonio’s newly formed Climate Action Plan Committee will be tasked identifying key locations — public and private — to install charging stations, District 7 City Councilwoman Ana Sandoval told the Business Journal.
Committee members will also consider whether to offer incentives to private companies to add them, Sandoval said.
“We can have both clean air and economic growth,” she said.
The Alamo Area Council of Governments is working with state officials to determine how to distribute a $200 million settlement from German automaker Volkswagen related to its emissions scandal, said Lily Lowder, AACOG’s Clean Cities Program director. Part of that money, she said, could be used to build electric vehicle charging stations.
Over the next year, Lowder and other AACOG officials will be developing more comprehensive lists of charging stations and working with dealerships about offering more electric vehicles in the San Antonio area.
