DALLAS – The City of McKinney (Texas) plugged in its first electric vehicle, a converted Toyota Prius, at a new charging station at the Roy and Helen Hall Library downtown.

The charging station was provided through TXU Energy’s EV Accelerator Program, which is designed to help customers such as the City get a head start in adopting electric vehicles and related technologies.

This station is one of the city’s four planned charging stations. The remaining charging stations will be located at the McKinney Senior Recreation Center, as well as the office buildings for the Development Services and Public Work departments.

In addition to installing the charging stations, TXU Energy worked with the City of McKinney to secure a grant from the North Central Texas Council of Governments, which is funding the conversion of three existing city vehicles, Toyota Prius hybrids, into plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.

“McKinney has a reputation for being a leader in sustainable practices. Public-private partnerships like this one with TXU Energy are important to us as we continue to grow our sustainable mission without negatively impacting our budget or allocating additional tax dollars to projects like this,” said McKinney Mayor Brian Loughmiller. “By making charging stations convenient for residents and using hybrid electric vehicles in the city fleet, McKinney continues to lead the way and expand our commitment to the environment and sustainable growth, while reducing expenditures in other operational areas associated with fleet use. With the ability to utilize Department of Energy Grant funding provided to the city for projects related to energy conservation as well as monetary rebates from TXU Energy for this program, not only are we conserving energy, we are also conserving financial resources.”

According to the City, TXU Energy is providing $150,000 in rebates to the City of McKinney through its Brighten GreenBack program. This includes the TXU Energy EV Accelerator Program and other energy efficiency incentives. These rebates to the City are included in a four-year contract the city recently signed with TXU Energy for electricity service.

The City of McKinney’s sustainability programs are led by the Office of Environmental Stewardship. Currently, the community is creating a sustainability plan and implementing projects from a recent Energy Efficiency Conservation Block Grant of more than $1 million received from the Department of Energy (DOE). The projects have been open to community input through a series of meetings and include a renewable demonstration project, a bicycle study, an urban canopy study, and a water conservation program.