Texas EV adoption by House district (July 1, 2024)

Recently, I posted about how EV adoption, over time, seems to be mimicking cell phone adoption in the 1990s. Can you imagine if politicians had decided they were opposed to cell phones back then and campaigned on ending their existence in the U.S.? The world would be so much different today, than it is, for good or bad. Bloomberg and other publications have mentioned the possible problem for politicians taking such a stance. EV adoption, although weakened by high auto financing rates, continues to be strong. In Texas plug-in vehicle registrations increase year-over-year at close to 50%. The “rule of 72” shows that this growth doubles the number of EVs on the road approximately every 1.44 years. There are currently 290,716 plug-in vehicles registered in Texas. In a year and a half, there will be more than 581,000. Some areas of Texas are increasing at a rate of 70%+, year-over-year. In those areas, EVs will double in number about every 12 months!

Select your Texas House district to see your area’s adoption rate.

Don’t know who represents you? You can find that information here.

The image below seems to indicate that EV adoption starts and spreads out from urban areas (indicated by green blobs) where (typically) daily commutes are shorter and charging infrastructure is more common. Sort of like early cell phone adoption… One particularly interesting thing to note is that, even in very rural areas, any area of EV adoption seems to begin at areas of population density. like smaller cities and towns.

Another common myth is that drivers decide to become EV buyers because of climate change or other environmental concerns. The map below shows areas of noncompliance with EPA air quality standards. Some of these areas have been in noncompliance for decades. However, there is heavy EV adoption occurring in areas with relatively clean air, like Austin, Tyler and College Station as well as moderately heavy adoption in areas near Lubbock, Longview, Waco, Texarkana, Amarillo and more.

Electric vehicles have become a point of contention in the upcoming election (and upcoming legislative session) with a number very prominent Republican candidates lining up against EVs. Bloomberg, Politico and other organizations have started pointing out the political risk of going against EVs, especially when they’re being adopted so quickly. Both chambers of the Texas Legislature are controlled by the Republican Party. The Republicans can lose only eleven districts in the House, in the upcoming election, without losing control of the House. In the image below, the purple districts are the ones that are currently under Republican control but have extremely high EV adoption, especially in the urban areas (where most of the voters are). There are thirty-six districts shown in purple. Recent conversations I’ve had with EV owners at conferences, shows and standing around EV charging stations (the new water cooler…) has shown me that many EV drivers are very upset about politics in Texas affecting EV drivers negatively, including the $200 additional fee for vehicle registration that was passed in the last session. Could EVs, the jobs, the economic prosperity and the cleaner air they bring cause a problem for those opposed to them? Only time will tell, but there are more than 290,000 EV drivers that are definitely getting upset and the number of Republican House districts that could be affected are a lot more than the twelve needed to flip the House. There are more than that in districts that have very high EV adoption rates. My role at TxETRA is to make sure the government officials that hold sway over EVs understand them, their positive impact on our state (both ecologic and financial), and that the number of EV drivers in Texas is growing. EVs are NOT partisan! To have a voice in this battle, our voices must join together. We must stay informed, especially about what’s happening in the Legislature. I highly recommend joining TxETRA. We’ll keep you informed. The cost is $25 per year and that money is used to fund our lobbying efforts.