Dallas Area Rapid Transit and the City of Mesquite are letting drivers charge their electric vehicles for free for the next year at newly installed charging ports.
City officials in Mesquite recently announced the opening of three new ports at city-owned sites. One is at city hall; the other two are at the Mesquite Municipal Center.
Assistant city manager Raymond Rivas said it's part of a regional push to build more EV infrastructure in North Texas.
“Electric vehicles are really becoming more popular," Rivas said, "and so this is our effort to kind of move in the direction of meeting the demands of our of our growing community."
Rivas said the new ports are part of Mesquite's plans to expand services for residents.
“We could potentially see some charging stations at, for instance, our service center," Rivas said. "As far as community wide, I think that this is going to be kind of our test run, if you will, to see what the demand is.”
DART also announced its first EV charging ports at Illinois Station and the Glen Heights Park & Ride transit center.
Drivers will be able to charge their electric vehicles for free for the next year at the new ports. After that, DART and the City of Mesquite will charge drivers a fee.
Rivas said the cost will depend on how often the ports are used.
Gordon Shattles with DART said funding for the charging stations came from a TXDoT grant approved by the North Central Texas Council of Governments as part of the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement program.
Last spring the Council of Governments also approved funding for more charging ports in Irving, Lewisville and Weatherford through the program.
Shattles said the new charging stations are a trial run for what the future of EV will look like in North Texas.
"These first installations will allow DART to better understand usage, benefits, and costs of the program to inform a broader expansion strategy throughout the DART Service Area," Shattles said in a written statement.
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