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Nov 02, 2024

Does New Mexico have enough electric vehicle charging stations?

NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – Is New Mexico ready to charge the wave of electric cars expected in the years ahead? Lawmakers are now hearing from government and utility leaders on whether they can meet the

NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – Is New Mexico ready to charge the wave of electric cars expected in the years ahead? Lawmakers are now hearing from government and utility leaders on whether they can meet the coming commuter power demand.

New Mexico’s biggest electric provider, PNM agrees more electric cars are hitting American roads: “You’ll notice in 2022 the average market share was seven percent; in 2023 that rose to 9.4 percent; and it has flattened somewhat in 2024 at 9.7%t,” said John Williamson, manager of Transportation Electrification with PNM. The trend is similar for the state of New Mexico.

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PNM says they aim to provide $22 million between 2024 and 2026 in infrastructure incentives for electric vehicle charging stations. “Today, in New Mexico, there are 803 EV charger ports located across 332 locations. PNM is very proud to have supported or provided incentives to 72 of those EV charger ports, and I’d like to highlight that we have 92 additional charger ports in the pipeline,” Williamson said.

The New Mexico Department of Transportation (NMDOT) says the state’s received more than $130 million in state and federal funding for electric vehicle infrastructure since 2021. NMDOT says one of its goals is to help establish New Mexico’s leg of a national electric vehicle charging network which should have 500,000 chargers coast to coast by 2030.

“You can see the map that’s generated there. These are all the charging locations that have been deployed by the state of New Mexico,” said Andrew Gonzales, deputy director of the Office of Special Project for the NMDOT.

The department is looking at issuing requests for proposals with private and public partnerships soon to get these charging stations in place. “The idea is to provide drivers with a convenient reliable accessible affordable experience,” Gonzales said.

NMDOT has designated eight ‘alternative fuel corridors’ for these electric vehicle projects including I-25, I-40, and I-10.

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