Governor Rick Perry to Get a Charge at New Electric Car Fill-'Er-Up on Monfort Today

If you need Governor Rick Perry or Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief this afternoon, they'll be at the intersection of Belt Line Road and Montfort Drive at around 2:30 -- at that Walgreens, to be specific. (Update: I've been informed that Perry and Moncrief will actually be at the Arlington...

By Robert Wilonsky

April 8, 2011

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If you need Governor Rick Perry or Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief this afternoon, they'll be at the intersection of Belt Line Road and Montfort Drive at around 2:30 -- at that Walgreens, to be specific. (Update: I've been informed that Perry and Moncrief will actually be at the Arlington Convention Center as part of a webcast tied to the Walgreens debut.) There, NRG Energy will officially debut the first of its so-called eVgo Freedom Stations, those electric-car quick-stop charging stations first mentioned during that press conference at the State Fair of Texas back in September. Says NRG's announcement this morning, this is but the beginning of the beginning: "NRG plans to install a total of 70 Freedom Stations in Dallas/Fort Worth and 50 in Houston by the end of 2012, with half in place by this summer. NRG also plans to electrify the Interstate 45 corridor connecting them in 2012."

eVgo's website has a map of proposed stations throughout Dallas, Fort Worth and Houston; they're also taking requests. David Crane, NRG's president and CEO, invokes the name of a certain Love Field-based carrier when describing the initiative: "We're taking a page from Southwest Airlines when they started out 40 years ago to link the major population centers in Texas."

Meanwhile, Perry says this is all about sticking it to The Man: "Because we steer clear of crippling mandates and work to keep our regulatory structures fair and predictable, Texas has created a favorable business climate that allows companies like NRG to provide the cutting-edge technology and products that will keep our state moving forward."

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