Electric vehicle roadmap pitched to Texas lawmakers

AUSTIN, Texas - Most of the parking spaces in front of the state capitol were taken Tuesday morning. There's nothing new about that but what was different were the types of vehicles parked in the spaces. 

Bumper to bumper, between Congress and Brazos, every one of them was electric. They were part of a backdrop for a news conference by a coalition of electric vehicle advocates.

"This is the key to the future. It's a way to save money. It's a way to save pollution. And more importantly, it's a way to create jobs," said Tom "Smitty" Smith of the Texas Electric Transportation Resources Alliance.

The alliance known as TXetra is a partnership with Conservative Texans for Energy Innovation. This coalition is offering lawmakers an electric transportation roadmap.

"The message is, number one, electric cars are coming. It's a global wave. In Texas we need to be ready in terms of having the regulatory environment to deal with them," said Michael Osborne with TXetra. 

Legislation has been filed this session to manage what electric vehicles will bring. Things like preparing for more charging stations on the power grid and replacing a reduction in gas tax revenue for the state highway department. 

The idea of a yearly flat fee for electric car owners is opposed by the coalition.

"We think the only fair way to do it is the way we've done it with gasoline vehicles. And it's based on how many miles we travel. We do that with gasoline vehicles because we pay it per gallon of gas. So we just think it needs to be variable and based on mileage. And that can be done at the annual checkup," said Osborne.

The group’s roadmap does acknowledge several challenges. There is opposition to the mining of raw materials for batteries as well as issues with recycling the batteries. There’s also a potential problem with the supply chain. Some of the major suppliers of raw materials are countries like China.

This electric revolution is also being felt in fleet services with vehicles like school buses. But the big breakthrough may be for those who haul freight. Several big, all-electric, vehicles were parked in front of the transportation department. Trucks like a Denton-made Peterbilt one can reduce urban pollution, but they are still expensive and have a limited range.

"It's simple to really want a zero-emission vehicle and zero carbon, but it's extremely challenging when you start getting into the truck market," said Bill Kahn with Peterbilt

A hybrid truck, on display at the Capitol, is a solution to the long-haul problem. A Cedar Park company called Hyliion is making a power train that can last a thousand miles. The high mileage is possible, according to company engineer Mike Campanella, because batteries are recharged by an onboard natural gas engine.

"Production is going to start off Q4 of this year. We're going to launch 200 trucks to customers as our commitment. We have about 2000 reservations in backlog," said Campanella.

To meet demand, Hyliion is expanding its workforce. The selection of smaller EVs is also getting larger. It's estimated by 2026 about 130 different models from sedans to SUVs to trucks will be available.