Massachusetts gets $50 million for EV charging infrastructure

Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey on Wednesday announced a $50 million investment in Electric Vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure across the state. This new funding aims to increase access to charging stations for residents, and commercial fleets and improve the existing charging infrastructure.

The $50 million investment will be given to American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds that will support EV technology programs at Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCES), charging infrastructure investments for the state fleet through the Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance (DCAMM) and the Department of Energy Resources (DOER).

It will also cover testing equipment and staff at the Division of Standards (DOS) to perform inspections of public charging stations and future analysis of EV charging requirements by the Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Coordinating Council (EVICC).

According to the announcement, $12.5 million will be invested to increase the overnight curbside charging stations. This includes pole-mounted and streetlamp EV charging solutions. A technical consultant will deploy on-street charging near multi-unit dwelling buildings and provide a guide to municipalities for future implementation.

$9.5 million in funding will go for medium and heavy-duty vehicles that make up to 3 percent of the state’s vehicles but produce 20 percent of on-road vehicle emissions.

The state is planning to achieve full electrification of this vehicle sector and mobile charging solutions can help operators to reduce challenges and cut delays. Also, resist the urge to overbuild through temporary mobile charging solutions.

$8 million will go to ride-for-hire vehicle electrification charging solutions to install level 2 and fast-charging infrastructure projects for taxi and transportation network company fleets.

$8 million will be used in a vehicle for everything (V2X) analysis and demonstration projects. V2X systems can charge and discharge an EV’s battery, allowing EVs to work as a grid resource by sending energy stored in their battery to the local utility grid or a connected grid asset such as a building.

The analysis is said to support vehicle-to-grid and vehicle-to-building projects designed to reduce peak demand and provide grid services.

DCAMM will use $9.5 million to install 60 EV charging stations which will make 4 EV ports and 4 make-ready spots at each site. $1.5 million will be used by DOER to install 60 EV chargers for fleet vehicles.

DOS will purchase $604,000 worth of EV charging testing equipment and hire staff to inspect public charging stations and keep them functional.

(Source – Mass.gov)