Charging Issues Still Weigh On Electric Vehicle Shift

Marblehead Woman Describes “Discouraging Experience”

JUNE 14, 2023…..Issues around electric vehicles and charging stations took center stage in front of the Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy twice Wednesday, once in the morning for House members of the committee and again in the afternoon when senators on the committee gathered.

The House and Senate co-chairs each said the topic was of real interest to them and the committee, but there were no signs of a thaw in the frosty relationship between them that has led the panel to conduct its business in an unusual way so far this session. The Senate co-chair even said he expects they will remain at loggerheads the rest of the year, creating twice as much work for advocates and complicating the process of advancing legislation into law.

House members on the TUE Committee heard in the morning from Marblehead Select Board Member Alexa Singer, who said she got an up-close look at the network of electric vehicle charging stations in Massachusetts starting last fall. The professional pilot and aviation educator came away horrified.

“Imagine unlocking your car, getting out in the pouring rain with an umbrella as there is no shelter overhead, you have your credit card, your cellphone, your keys in hand; you’re trying to start the charger, looking at a tiny little screen with your back to your vehicle. You have to insert and replace the charger multiple times, still trying to hold that umbrella.”

She continued: “Now it’s also dark, you’re in the back of a Wal-Mart shopping center near a dumpster with very little lighting, no other cars around you, and you’re surrounded by a row of large shipping containers … and unlike a gas car, you’re there for 45 minutes. We have security at ATMs when we’re there for two minutes. Anyone who is experienced traveler knows it is very ill-advised, especially for a woman, to be in the back of a building alone at night on a phone distracted and fumbling with a credit card and keys with your back turned. And yes, that is exactly the situation I found myself in over and over.”

Singer said the experiences left her certain that “the charging network is not ready” for the more widespread transition to electric vehicles that state policymakers are banking on to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Massachusetts and elsewhere.

The transportation sector accounts for about 42 percent of the emissions in Massachusetts and the state’s Clean Energy and Climate Plan for 2050 calls ensuring that the vehicles on the road in 2050 are powered by clean energy “the primary strategy to achieve deep decarbonization in the transportation sector” and said that “transitioning the vehicles operating in Massachusetts to EVs will be the most effective decarbonization strategy for reaching Net Zero in 2050.”

Massachusetts will need to have at least 200,000 passenger electric vehicles on the roads by 2025 and 900,000 by 2030 to meet the state’s decarbonization commitments, energy officials from the Baker administration said last year. There were about 55,000 EVs and plug-in hybrids on the roads in Massachusetts, they said in October. Massachusetts has also adopted vehicle standards requiring all light-duty vehicles sold in 2035 and beyond are either zero-emission or plug-in hybrids.

Singer testified Wednesday alongside Rep. Jenny Armini in favor of a bill (H 3673) that would direct the Department of Energy Resources to establish safety standards and regulations for EV charging stations to ensure accessibility to the public, safe and well-lit siting, state of good repair, the safety of customer data and more.

“She has done all we can ask of someone to support the transition to electric vehicles, buying in wholeheartedly. But this discouraging experience is more than enough to push those considering an EV the other way,” Armini said. “This bill is about the common concerns that slow our adoption of electric vehicles and the risks we take when we don’t ensure safe and accessible charging. The risk of being stranded or being stuck in an unsafe environment while charging are all barriers to meeting our climate goals.”

House members on the TUE Committee also heard support Wednesday for a bill (H 3204) that would have the Department of Public Utilities direct electric utilities to offer rebates to drivers who charge their EVs at off-peak hours.

“We see this as a win-win because A) off-peak charging rebates that are appropriately sized will encourage more Massachusetts residents to make the switch by offering even lower fuel costs, and they’ll protect the grid by making sure that as we add more electric vehicles onto the grid, they don’t exacerbate those existing peak moments,” Anna Vanderspek, electric vehicle program director at the Green Energy Consumers Alliance, said. “We really think that, right now, we need all the tools in the toolbox to accelerate EV adoption and protect the grid and that this is one tool that does both both of those things.”

Chairman Jeff Roy indicated that issues around EVs and charging are at the front of his mind as his committee begins to consider which bills to recommend be taken up in the House.

“I’m a fellow EV driver and have experienced many of the issues that you have faced, so I can assure you that we will take this matter closely under advisement and work to get something done, hopefully in this session,” he said after Singer’s testimony.

Though it is technically a joint committee, the House and Senate chairs of the TUE Committee have not been able to agree to joint committee rules and so far have been holding separate House and Senate hearings. On Wednesday, the House side opened its hearing at 10 a.m. and the Senate members held their own hearing on an almost identical slate of bills in the same hearing room starting at 1 p.m.

Sen. Michael Barrett, the Senate chair of TUE, began his hearing by acknowledging that the arrangement means some advocates have to stick around for two hearings or, if the House and Senate choose different days to hear the same bill, come to the State House twice to share their thoughts with committee members in person.

“I want to thank you for bearing with us during these rather extraordinary times, this choice to have two proceedings rather than one. Presumably it won’t be forever, presumably collective decision-making will return to TUE and with that, joint hearings. We can’t have one without the other. But my hope is that we’ll start to abide by our traditional rules and we will once again give equal weight to Senate decision-making — not excessive weight, but equal weight — and in so doing, be able to bring the two halves of the hearing process back together as well,” Barrett said. “But probably that resolution will not be coming this year. And so we have to resign ourselves to the dual hearing process instead and to make it as bearable for all of us as possible.”

The House has more members on joint committees than the Senate – there are 11 representatives on the TUE committee and six Senate members.