Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Legislation and Policy, USA



Now that the deuces are wild for Massachusetts, its governor is placing a bigger bet on electric-vehicle adoption in the Bay State. With exactly 222 publicly accessible electric-vehicle charging stations currently available, the famously liberal Massachusetts is finally joining the ranks of those states that are piling rebates on top of the incentives the federal government provides for those who buy electric vehicles or plug-in hybrids. With that gesture, Gov. Deval Patrick is putting a charge into the state's goal of having 300,000 plug-ins on the state's roads by 2025.

And the governor didn't stop there. He helped dedicate six Proterra-made battery-electric transit buses that were put into municipal service in Worcester. Those buses are expected to save $3 million in refueling costs during the next dozen years. Additionally, the state is also spending $600,000 to deploy electric-vehicle charging stations in 16 municipalities and two universities while buying 200 electric vehicles for various public entities. The state also ponied up another $1.8 million for eight electric school buses.
Gina Coplon-Newfield, the Sierra Club's director of future fleet & electric vehicles initiative, wrote a blog post on the subject and said it'll be tough for the state to meet that 2025 goal. She estimated that state residents would have to buy about 70 plug-ins a day to hit that 300,000 mark, far higher than the current pace. Still, she applauded the state for the recent initiatives. "Massachusetts hasn't had enough EV champions who are focused on nothing but promoting EVs," she told AutoblogGreen. "There are lots of supportive people, though, who have been giving this more attention in recent months. That's why we're seeing progress."

For those keeping track, about one out of 35 of the country's publicly accessible EV charging stations is in Massachusetts, according to the US Department of Energy. By comparison, Massachusetts accounts for about one in 50 registered vehicles in the US, so the state's slightly ahead of the game in that department. Time to catch up. Check out the press release from the governor's office below.Continue reading Massachusetts introduces $2,500 state incentive for EVs

Massachusetts introduces $2,500 state incentive for EVs originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Mon, 31 Mar 2014 11:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.



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