New Mexico lacks EV charging stations in rural and tribal areas

You’d be lucky to find more than a dozen electric vehicle charging stations on tribal land in New Mexico.

The state has a regional disparity in its EV infrastructure, with nearly three-quarters of all charging stations in the state located in urban areas. It’s an inequity that could prevent the state from reaching its zero-emission vehicle sales goals.

New Mexico has 326 EV charging stations, according to a policy report released this month by the Legislative Finance Committee. That number is proportionate to the number of EVs in the state, but those charging stations aren’t evenly distributed.

Less than 4% of New Mexico’s electric vehicle charging stations are located in tribal communities, according to the report, despite tribal lands making up 13% of state land area.

Rural areas face different challenges than urban areas in deploying EV infrastructure, like high operational costs due to low utilization and complex permitting processes, according to the legislative report.

The LFC provided four key recommendations for the New Mexico Department of Transportation to help address the disparity:

• Providing more technical assistance for tribal governments and including tribal-specific EV charging corridor plans in state infrastructure strategies
• Studying other states’ successful financial strategies for EV charging infrastructure, including policies in Colorado, Oregon and Washington
• Monitoring relevant policies from El Paso Electric that other utilities could mimic
• Providing a report on EV charging station costs and performance metrics by July 2025

The full legislative report can be found online at nmlegis.gov.

What policies or laws do you want to see written about in Business Outlook? Send an email to mgleason@abqjournal.com.