For the second time in two years, Tesla Motors Inc. is walking away in defeat from Texas after failing to convince lawmakers that it should be allowed to sell its $100,000 electric cars in the state.

Tesla had backed two bills in the Legislature that would have allowed it to bypass auto dealers and sell its cars directly to consumers in the second-largest U.S. car market. Neither made it to the House of Representatives or Senate floors for a vote. With the Legislature concluding on June 1, its bid is over.

"They are thwarting the will of the people," said Diarmuid O'Connell, vice president of business development for Tesla, which is based in Palo Alto, Calif. "That it doesn't even get a fair hearing — much less a vote — is to me very odd and disturbing."