GM offers free nighttime charging to Chevy EV owners in Texas

General Motors is teaming up with Reliant Energy to offer free nighttime charging to some Chevy electric vehicle owners in Texas.

Chevy owners who enroll in Reliant’s EV charging plan will receive free nighttime charging through monthly bill credits that offset charges incurred between 11PM. and 6AM, the companies said. Customers must also designate an EV to receive the charging credit through GM Energy’s Smart Charging Portal. (GM Energy is the automaker’s home energy subsidiary, and Reliant is a subsidiary of NRG Energy.)

The new plan is the latest promotion to discount charging costs for EV owners, as automakers pile on perks in the hopes of winning over skeptical consumers. Ford recently announced a similar deal in Texas, partnering with one of Texas’ largest electric providers to give some customers free EV charging at home. It also has a promotion in place to provide free home chargers to all new EV buyers through the end of the year.

GM and Reliant claim the energy for nighttime EV charging will be powered by renewable sources through the purchase of renewable energy certificates (RECs), a popular method among private players to burnish their environmental bonafides. In the corporate world, a company purchases a REC when it wants to claim that something is being powered with 100 percent renewable energy — even when it is still being powered by fossil fuels.

But RECs are often used to mask more polluting behavior. A recent study of 115 major companies that use Renewable Energy Certificates found that many of them overstated the environmental benefits.