A few weeks ago, we celebrated the passage of the 2024 climate bill in Massachusetts, An Act promoting a clean energy grid, advancing equity and protecting ratepayers, and wrote about its provisions related to reforming natural gas utilities, procuring battery storage, and siting and permitting. Here’s what the bill does on transportation.

Proactive Grid Planning 

The bill directs the Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Coordinating Council (EVICC) to, every two years, conduct a 10-year forecast of EV charger load demand and work with the Department of Transportation (MassDOT) and the Department of Energy Resources (DOER) to identify future charging hubs along major travel corridors. It then also requires the electric utilities to propose to the DPU any necessary grid upgrades resulting from those identified charging hubs after each of these EVICC reports.  

We’re all about proactive grid planning, but the devil will be in the details of implementation on this piece of the bill. Yes, we need to build out infrastructure proactively to support all of the charging we’re going to need for both light- and heavy-duty vehicles – especially larger charging depots on highways. And yes, increased EV adoption puts downward pressure on rates for everyone. But if you’re an electric utility earning a return on equity on your investments in infrastructure, you have an incentive to build even when there might be less costly alternatives. It’s the DPU’s job to work out what’s in the interest of ratepayers, but as we’ve written before, the DPU has too much to do. It’s going to take careful attention from an army of economists, energy experts, and lawyers over at the DPU to parse through the proposals that result from this section of the climate law, business-as-usual capital investments, and anything stemming from the Electric Sector Modernization Plan (ESMP). Our hope is that this EVICC work complements, rather than recreates, ESMP work.

Easier EV Charger Installation 

The bill makes installing EV charging easier by creating a statewide “right to charge” rule (meaning condo associations and similar entities can’t unreasonably prohibit an individual from installing EV charging), fixing an earlier error that accidentally prohibited pole-mounted chargers, and directing the DPU to open a proceeding on charging in the right of way. 

All of these changes are great – the right to charge rule is something in particular we’ve been asked about and advocated for over the years! Exactly what to expect from the right-of-way proceeding remains to be seen, but when it comes to equitable access to EVs, we know many, many people do not have off-street parking, so any effort to break down barriers to making curbside charging a possibility is a good thing.

Increased Regulation & Standardization 

The bill also requires the Executive Office of Energy & Environmental Affairs (EEA) to write regulations to monitor EV charger usage and reliability, and the Division of Standards to create an inventory of charging stations and write regulations to verify EV charger accuracy. We expect EEA to work closely with EVICC on these items, as EVICC has already identified these areas as topics for further study – and discussion with industry stakeholders – as part of its workplan for 2025. 

Increased Funding for EV Rebates 

Finally, the bill allocates $27 million per year more in funding to the state MOR-EV rebate program through June 30, 2027. This is great news, as MOR-EV continues to be one of the primary levers at the Commonwealth’s disposal to support the adoption of new and used EVs. However, it’s worth noting that MOR-EV has spent around $57 million so far in 2024, and with the future of the federal tax credit uncertain, state rebates may be more important than ever. 

One Unnecessary Item 

One provision requires EEA to study the feasibility of Massachusetts ending the sale of new gas-powered cars by 2035. To be candid, we feel that this exercise is a waste of time. By law, the state of Massachusetts has to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. To do that, we can’t be burning fossil fuels for transportation in 2050. Cars generally stay on the road for 15 years, so the last new gas-powered car has to be sold in 2035 for us to meet this legal requirement. 

Beyond the climate imperative, it’s clear the national and global car market is headed towards EVs. Several states, including Massachusetts and Rhode Island, have adopted the Advanced Clean Cars II regulations out of California, which will require that an increasing percentage of the vehicles automakers sell be electric from model year 2026 to 2035, reaching 100% in 2035. California, a huge market in its own right, is already at 25% of new car sales being electric. Nationally, California is no longer an outlier – Colorado just caught up. Norway is almost at 100%, and thirty-one countries – led by European nations and China – are past the tipping point. Now is not the time to rehash these facts – now is the time to put the pedal to the metal, so to speak, to make sure we’re not left behind and Massachusetts residents benefit from the cleaner air and economic benefits of EVs.   

Now Over to the Executive Branch 

We should rightly celebrate the passage of the 2024 climate law, but as always, the work doesn’t stop here. Now it’s on to the executive branch to implement these policies. 

P.S. Speaking of the executive branch implementing policies, if you haven’t taken action to tell the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection not to delay important air pollution regulations any further, you have until December 19 to submit written comments! All the details here.