A new step in Houston’s climate action plan is partnering with a major car rental service to bring electric vehicles and infrastructure into the Bayou City.
Florida-based Hertz (Nasdaq: HTZ) will bring over 2,100 rental EVs, nearly tripling its existing fleet, the company said March 7. Hertz will also partner with BP Pulse, the EV infrastructure arm of London-based BP PLC (NYSE: BP), to install an EV charging hub at George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) for ride-share services, taxis and public use.
Hertz will also share data from its EV fleet with the city to help inform placement of charging infrastructure in Houston neighborhoods. The company will donate an electric vehicle and curriculum materials to Lone Star College North Harris for its auto servicing curriculum.
Houston will be the second city to partner with Hertz following Denver, which confirmed its participation in January. The Mile High City will receive 5,200 EVs through its partnership with Hertz.
Houston's climate action plan, which was launched in 2020, has a stated goal of converting all of Houston’s non-emergency, light-duty municipal vehicles to EV technology by 2025. The plan’s overall goal is to make Houston a net-zero emissions city by 2050.
Last year, the city purchased around 100 new EVs for various departments, including the Houston Police Department, Houston Airport System, Solid Waste Management Department, and Houston Parks and Recreation Department. The U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Transit Administration also awarded nearly $21.6 million to Houston Metro to purchase more electric buses in 2022.
Last year, the Texas Department of Transportation published its initial draft of its Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Plan as required by the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Formula Program. In December, the state closed applications for grants for private companies looking to install and service EV charging infrastructure.
The TxDOT plan will distribute $408 million in federal funding to install EV infrastructure across Texas. The nonprofit Evolve Houston, founded by the city as part of its climate action plan, released a public comment on the state plan noting that the draft’s infrastructure in Houston overlooked underserved communities on the city’s east side. In a September 2022 letter, the Federal Highway Administration approved the state's plan.
Evolve Houston estimated EV sales in Houston are likely to reach approximately 30% of total new vehicle sales by 2030, according to a report published in 2022. The nonprofit also launched a microgrant initiative targeting electromobility projects in August 2022, funded by BP and Detroit-based General Motors (NYSE: GM).
Meanwhile, several EV battery startups in Houston have received funding recently. Zeta Energy was named in January as a recipient of the Department of Energy's $4 million grant targeting technologies too early for private investment. Also, Revterra secured a $6 million Series A round last year to develop its flywheel technology, which the company claims is more efficient than traditional lithium-ion technology.
In January, Avis Budget Group (Nasdaq: CAR) and EverCharge, an SK Group company that provides large-scale EV charging devices and management systems, launched EV charging stations at IAH. The stations will power the EVs and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles that Avis and Budget rent out at the airport. This is EverCharge's first large-scale installation of charging stations at an airport, and the companies aim to use it as a model for similar installations at airports across the U.S., according to a press release.
