Texas offers an exciting opportunity for owners of a 2021 or newer Ford F-150 Lightning, Mustang Mach-E, Escape PHEV or plug-in Lincoln. Ford has partnered with electric utility TXU to offer participants free charging for their electric vehicles during off-peak hours set by the utility company until at least the end of 2026, The Verge reported.

Based on sales data for the first half of this year, Ford is in second place in the US electric vehicle (EV) market behind Tesla, albeit with a significant gap, with one in two new EVs being Teslas and Ford only 8% share.

Ford’s Mustang Mach-E is the sixth most popular EV in the country, and the electric version of the F-150 is the eighth. Texas, the second most populous state in the US, has a population of about 30 million, yet only 200,000 of the approximately eight million passenger cars registered in the state are electric. While one in four new cars in California is electric, the figure in Texas is just 6%.

These circumstances also contribute to Ford’s curiosity about the impact on the market if charging costs were reduced or absorbed. In Texas, the company has launched a trial under an agreement with a local electricity provider whereby participating EV owners can charge their vehicles at home for free if they meet certain simple conditions.

Based on national data, the average EV owner spends about $70 per month on home charging, significantly less than the amount spent on filling up a gasoline or diesel car, which is about double. However, recent forecasts for the uptake of EVs have become more cautious, further justifying the importance of these types of experiments and programs.