A new report shows that Texas has about 16 public charging stations per 1,000 EVs. Photo by Kindel Media/Pexels

A new study from FinanceBuzz reports that Texas has the fifth most public electric vehicle charging stations among states in the U.S.

In its Electric Vehicle (EV) Statistics [2025]: Trends in Sales, Savings, and More report, FinanceBuzz, a personal finance and investment adviser, compiled electric vehicle data to find sales trends, adoption rates, charging infrastructure, costs, savings and more.

Texas has a total of 3,709 public EV charging stations, which equals about 16 stations per 1,000 EVs, according to the report. The remaining top five included:

  • No. 1 California with 17,122 EV charging stations
  • No. 2 New York with 4,814 EV charging stations
  • No.3 Massachusetts with 3,738 EV charging stations
  • No. 4 Florida with 3,715 EV charging stations

Los Angeles had the most public charging stations at 1,609 among U.S. cities. Austin was Texas’s top city with 656 stations.

The study also looked at how much Americans are spending on transportation, and found that the average American using a gas vehicle spends $1,865 annually on fuel. FinanceBuzz found that electric vehicle owners would pay 65 percent less on energy costs. Calculations were based on driving 14,489 miles annually, which measures to 37.9 miles per day. The full report sourced data from the International Energy Agency, the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Department of Transportation, AAA, the U.S. Energy Information Administration and other organizations.

The report said Americans purchased over 1.5 million EVs in 2024, which equals approximately 10 percent of all new light-duty vehicles sold, citing information from the International Council on Clean Transportation.

While Tesla remains the most popular make, 24 new EV models were launched in 2024 by other companies, which represents a 15 percent increase from the previous year.

Other trends in the report included:

  • The U.S. now has more than 64,000 public charging stations and over 168,000 charging ports, which is up from fewer than 1,000 stations in 2010.
  • An average EV owner will spend about $654 per year on electricity, compared to $1,865 for a gas-powered vehicle. The savings equate to about $1,211 per year.
  • In 2024, U.S. EV sales surpassed 1.5 million, but the pace slowed compared to the previous year, with a 10 percent increase versus 40 percent in 2023.
  • Insuring an EV can be more costly because parts are harder to come by, making repairs and replacements more expensive.
  • In the second quarter of 2024, nearly half of new EVs were leased, which is a 28 percentage point increase since 2021.
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Rice University spinouts named among 50 top cleantech companies to watch

green team

Two Rice University spinouts, Coflux Purification and DexMat, appear on a new list of the world’s 50 cleantech companies to watch.

Cleantech Group’s 2026 Cleantech 50 to Watch list recognizes early-stage companies “creating groundbreaking solutions to address some of the world’s most pressing environmental and sustainability challenges.”

Cleantech Group, a market research, consulting, and events company, selects the 50 honorees based on insights from analysts and early-stage innovators, along with public nominations.

Destroying “forever chemicals”

Coflux, founded in 2024, offers an onsite treatment system that captures and destroys manufactured “forever chemicals”—per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances—in water and wastewater. It’s a member of Greentown Houston.

Alec Ajnsztajn, CEO; Jeremy Daum, chief technology officer; and Dana Vazquez, chief commercial officer, co-founded Coflux. Ajnsztajn and Daum earned doctoral degrees from Rice, and Vazquez earned an MBA from the university.

Coflux spun out of Rice labs directed by professors Rafael Verduzco and Pulickel Ajayan.

Last year, Coflux received a $175,000 grant from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture. The startup has also raised more than $500,000 in non-dilutive funding, including $80,000 awarded in 2024 by Rice’s One Small Step Grant program.

Promoting an alternative to copper

DexMat, founded in 2015, produces carbon nanotube products such as fibers, yarns, cables, and fabric. The company’s products address demand for materials that can reduce carbon emissions, according to CB Insights.

Its main product, Galvorn, is a copper alternative made of carbon nanotube fibers. CB Insights says Galvorn is engineered to be lighter and stronger than traditional conductive materials like carbon and steel. It’s used in industries such as energy, aerospace, defense, automotive, consumer electronics, and health care.

DexMat emerged from Matteo Pasquali’s Carbon Lab at Rice. Pasquali, co-founder of DexMat, co-invented the company’s technology with the late Nobel Prize-winning chemist Rick Smalley. Smalley was a professor of chemistry, physics, and astronomy at Rice.

Pasquali is a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, chemistry, materials science, and nanoengineering at Rice. He co-founded DexMat with Rice graduate Dmitri Tsentalovich, the company’s director of product innovation.

Earlier this year, DexMat raised $5 million in seed funding from Non Sibi Ventures, Governance Partners, Tailwind Futures, BetterWay, Capital Factory, and other investors. The company also secured $3 million in non-dilutive funding.

In 2023, DexMat raised $3 million in a pre-seed round led by Shell Ventures.

TotalEnergies expands solar joint venture with $1.2B portfolio in Texas, Ohio

solar expansion

TotalEnergies, a French company whose U.S. headquarters is in Houston, announced this month that it is expanding its renewable energy joint venture with New York-based investment firm KKR by adding 700 megawatts of utility-scale solar projects.

The deal will add three utility-scale solar assets in Texas and Ohio, which are expected to reach commercial operation by Q1 2027, according to a news release from the company. The portfolio is valued at $1.2 billion.

The 50/50 joint venture between TotalEnergies and KKR currently holds 1.4 gigawatts of renewable energy and will grow to 2.1 gigawatts.

The new deal is expected to close this year. Once completed, TotalEnergies will operate the assets. The electricity generated from the solar projects will be sold to third parties, the company reports.

The companies originally formed the joint venture about a year ago when TotalEnergies sold KKR a 50 percent stake in a North American solar portfolio valued at $1.25 billion. The deal originally included six utility-scale solar assets, primarily located in the U.S.

“TotalEnergies is a renewable energy industry leader globally, and we are thrilled to establish this joint venture with the TotalEnergies team to support their renewables business," Cecilio Velasco, managing director KKR, said in a release last year. “We have long been investors in renewables through our infrastructure platform, having committed more than $23 billion to date in energy transition investments. TotalEnergies’ North American solar portfolio is a great fit for us, representing high-quality renewable energy assets with long term contracts.”

TotalEnergies reports that by June 2026 it held more than 37 gigawatts of gross renewable power generation capacity. It aims to achieve over 100 terawatt-hours of net electricity production by 2030.

The company signed a major power purchase agreement with Google earlier this year. Through the deal, TotalEnergies will supply the tech giant with 1 gigawatt of solar power for its data centers in Texas over a 15-year span.

However, the company also recently redirected nearly $1 billion in capital away from wind energy projects and "decided to renounce offshore wind development in the United States." Read more here.