Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner and the Houston City Council have granted approval to purchase, install and deploy electric vehicle (EV) charging stations in various city facilities.
The effort will be enabled through the city’s partnership with Greenlots, an EV charging solutions provider and member of the Shell group, and driven by the Houston Climate Action Plan – a strategy that sets out to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, improve regional air quality and build climate resilience.
“We’ve taken another step toward reaching our Climate Action Plan goal of electrifying our city fleet vehicles,” says Turner. “EVs can help reduce our carbon footprint, modernize our electric grid and improve regional air quality. It’s exciting to see Shell, one of the world’s largest energy companies, taking the lead on decarbonizing the transportation sector and facilitating Houston’s energy transition.”
The city plans to convert an estimated 8,000 non-emergency, light-duty municipal fleet vehicles to EVs by 2030. Greenlots will install 41 EV charging stations throughout Houston, creating a charging infrastructure that will power the electric fleet. Charging site locations include the Tranquility Parking Garage, City Hall Annex Parking Garage, Transtar, Downtown Library and the Houston Permitting Center.
In addition to installation, the city’s EV fleet charging infrastructure will be monitored and managed by Greenlots SKY EV charging network software – helping to inform efficient charging site utilization and operations. Initial use of the EV chargers will be dedicated to municipal vehicles. Over time, the chargers will be integrated with citywide charging infrastructure for public use.
The Houston Climate Action Plan – released on Earth Day 2020 – is a science-based, community-driven strategy to reduce GHG emissions, meet the Paris Agreement goal of carbon neutrality by 2050 and foster a global energy transition. Shifting regional and municipal fleets to EVs and installing EV charging stations at public-facing city facilities are major milestones set forth in the plan.