In the massive 10 years long effort to get 900,000 electric vehicles on the road in Massachusetts by 2030, government funding is hardly an issue – but giving money away is proving a challenge.
Policy shapers estimate Massachusetts needs 75,000 public charging stations to support its EV goals. So far, the state has about 8,800 fast chargers up and running, according to a recent climate report.
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The Department of Environmental Protection, and other agencies, have a multitude of grant programs to incentivize more of the infrastructure EV owners will need.
We examined a $13 million DEP grant program to build 300 fast chargers. Only about 50 were built in two years. Based on current trends, less than 200 are likely to be completed. More than 100 grant recipients left money on the table, deciding not to build fast charger ports. That could leave up to $5 million in unclaimed grants.
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“Charging infrastructure is going to be a challenge,” said Anna Vanderspek, who tracks the state’s progress on EVs for Green Energy Consumers Alliance.
Although the Massachusetts Vehicle Census lists 89,300 registered electric cars* on the roads, she believes, by 2030, we can increase that figure exponentially.
“We better,” Vanderspek says, “There's good data out there and good evidence that we can meet it.”
She points to California where there was nine years of slow adoption and then EV sales took off. California is a nationwide leader in the conversion to EV – the cars themselves and the infrastructure that supports them. She’s optimistic the same can happen in Massachusetts.
*with plug-in hybrid vehicles added the number rises to 139,000