Texas will soon become the latest state to reward electric-car buyers with a check.

The Lone Star State will implement a rebate program, announced last fall, that will give $2,500 rebates to owners of plug-in cars, Charged EVs reports.

The program was approved by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality in November 2013 with an intended spring 2014 start date, Fuel Fix reported at the time.

According to the rules (pdf) adopted by the commission, both battery-electric cars and plug-in hybrids will be eligible for the full $2,500 rebate, as long as their battery packs exceed 4 kilowatt-hours in size.

Natural-gas powered cars will also be eligible, as will bi-fuel vehicles that can run on both natural gas and gasoline.

2011 Nissan Leaf plugged into an EVgo quick-charging station, Texas

2011 Nissan Leaf plugged into an EVgo quick-charging station, Texas

The rebate program ends August 31, 2015, and the number of rebates is capped at 2,000 each for plug-in cars and natural-gas vehicles for the length of the program.

Only vehicles purchased after the program's official start date will be eligible for rebates.

That date hasn't been finalized, but a Texas Commission on Environmental Quality representative told us the agency hopes to begin accepting applications in the next couple of weeks.

Purchase rebates won't be the only electric-car incentive in Texas, which--despite its reputation as the land of big pickup trucks and Big Oil--is among the friendliest states to plug-ins.

There are already around 5,000 electric cars registered in Texas, and that's largely due to a comprehensive network of charging stations supported by utility companies.

The state government allows utilities to operate these public charging stations, which the companies view as a potentially lucrative source of revenue.

Although its direct-sales business model is illegal in Texas, Tesla Motors also operates 5 Supercharger fast-charging stations in the state, with plans for more.

At the moment, the Lone Star State is also one of four states that are candidates to host Tesla's "gigafactory" for lithium-ion cell manufacturing.

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