Mass. leads the way on electric vehicles
SAM BONACCI
A slew of electric and hybrid vehicles were on hand at an electric vehicle event at WPI.
A new report has found that Massachusetts is the New England leader on the number of electric vehicles on the roads – and in the number aimed for by 2025. But it says that even Massachusetts – and another state singled out for praise, Maryland – need to ramp up their efforts in order to reach goals set two years ago.
“Charging up,” released by the Conservation Law Foundation, the Sierra Club and the Acadia Center, the report, shows that the Bay State had close to 5,500 electric vehicles (EVs) in mid-2015.
The state’s goal for 2025 is about 304,000, according to a memorandum of understanding Gov. Deval Patrick signed in 2013 along with governors in California, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island and Vermont. That memorandum of understanding, and subsequent Multi-State ZEV (zero-emission vehicle) Action Plan, identified steps the states would take on their own or jointly to build the market for EVs.
To reach that ten-year destination, Massachusetts will need an additional 13,400 more EVs in 2017. By 2020, there would need to be 82,000 EVs on the roads in order for the Bay State to be on track for the 304,000 target, the report said.
The report, released Wednesday, notes that more drivers are going the electric route each year, there is a significant gap between state goals and current EV adoption rates. It recommends policies to close that gap. They include auto dealership and consumer incentive programs, policies to encourage widespread availability of consumer-friendly charging stations, public education initiatives to raise awareness about the benefits of electric vehicles, and the use of electric vehicles in municipal and statewide fleets.
“We need the utility industry, auto industry, and government in each and every state to dramatically increase policies that encourage electric vehicle use, and this report shows how we can do just that,” said Gina Coplon-Newfield, Director of Sierra Club’s Electric Vehicle Program and co-author of the report.
Other New England states also have ambitious EV projections and quite a ways to go to meet them.
Connecticut has about 3,000 EVs now and a goal of 155,000 by 2025. For Vermont, the numbers are about 950 now; 34,000 by 2025. New Hampshire has 835 and aims for about 79,000 by 2025. Rhode Island, with about 425 EVs, aims for 44,000 by 2025. Maine has 263 and aims to add more than 50,000 more over the next decade.
But for the Northeast, the report says the much smaller Maryland is leading the way; it has 5,000 EVs currently and is steering toward 300,000 for 2025.
Editor's note: An earlier version of this story erroneously referred to the Acadia Center as the Acadia Foundation.
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