Massachusetts EV charger rollout lags despite federal highway funding

Funding waits on the roadside

Massachusetts holds about $64 million for highway charging, but drivers still cannot use any station built through the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure, or NEVI, program on major routes.

That gap keeps a federal award tied to planning work, even as the state treats charger access as part of its cleaner transportation strategy for electric vehicle travel.

A travel network was the goal

The $5 billion NEVI program focuses on major corridors, where fast chargers can support longer trips between communities and regions with fewer stops for motorists across busy routes.

Its highway focus also addresses range anxiety, the concern drivers face when they question whether the next charger will appear before they continue longer trips across planned routes.

The vendor plan raised questions

Massachusetts selected Applegreen Electric, Global Partners, and Weston & Sampson for NEVI work, but questions remain about which companies have signed contracts for planned highway chargers across the state.

Contract questions matter because they shape project tracking, schedule clarity, and how quickly Massachusetts can turn selected highway locations into working stations for drivers through NEVI planning work.

Approvals did not bring openings

Federal approvals came nearly four years earlier, yet the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, or MassDOT, confirmed no NEVI chargers were operating on major roadways through the program for drivers.

The delay stands apart from local charging access because NEVI centers on travel corridors, where long-distance drivers need dependable stops between communities during longer highway trips across Massachusetts.

The cause remains unclear

MassDOT has not publicly explained why NEVI work has moved slowly, leaving residents and drivers without a clear public timeline for charger openings under the federal highway program.

A public records request sought contract details to check installation schedules, but MassDOT had not released those documents while questions remained unresolved for drivers using major routes across Massachusetts.

Advocates see a policy mismatch

Former Massachusetts Secretary of Transportation Jim Aloisi called the slow adoption mystifying because the state links cleaner mobility plans to electric vehicle growth across its climate planning strategy.

He said charger access should move faster when Massachusetts relies on electric vehicles to build future public confidence in cleaner long-distance trips along major corridors for highway drivers.

Fun fact: Massachusetts became the birthplace of volleyball in 1895, when William G. Morgan invented the game in Holyoke using ideas from several sports.

The council lacks full details

The Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Coordinating Council began in 2022 to guide an equitable, reliable charger network across Massachusetts communities and support future planning decisions for public access needs.

Eric Bourassa of the Metropolitan Area Planning Council said he lacked details on the holdup, but called the deployment pace disappointing for Massachusetts under federal NEVI rollout efforts.

Little-known fact: Massachusetts is home to Boston Common, America’s oldest public park, with a history dating back to its 1634 founding.

Spending stayed behind the scenes

The two signed vendors have spent close to $4 million so far, but that money has not produced operating chargers for highway users in Massachusetts at this stage.

The spending went toward development-focused tasks, including engineering, permitting, and procurement, which often happen before drivers see equipment placed at roadside sites along selected highway corridors across Massachusetts.

First sites are moving closer

Applegreen has ordered charging equipment for Greenfield and Newburyport, with construction targeted for late July at those two planned Massachusetts locations under its initial NEVI deployment phase work.

Global Partners has approval to order equipment and finalize site details for Lancaster, Wrentham, and Raynham, marking another step toward early highway installations through NEVI funding in Massachusetts.

Nearby states show the gap

Advocates see the lag as notable because Massachusetts is compact and politically aligned with electric vehicle policy, yet its highway program remains behind progress in some comparable states.

Rhode Island, New York, Vermont, Utah, and Ohio already have operating NEVI chargers, making the Massachusetts highway gap easier for advocates to compare against progress in other states.

The slowdown reaches beyond Massachusetts

Only 19 states had at least one operating charger funded through NEVI, showing that slow deployment extends beyond Massachusetts and reflects a broader challenge for state program managers.

Brookings Metro senior fellow Adie Tomer pointed to state capacity limits, procurement work, permitting hurdles, and electrical grid complications as barriers that can slow program delivery across states.

The broader picture looks mixed

Massachusetts ranks fourth nationally for charging ports per capita after a sharp increase in installations, showing broader charger growth outside the delayed federal highway program over several years.

Even with that progress, Massachusetts still needs about 2,000 more public charging ports to match planning estimates for future electric vehicle demand across roads, workplaces, businesses, and communities.

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A vendor dispute adds another wrinkle

Applegreen and Global Partners also clashed over a separate Massachusetts plan to redevelop 18 highway service plazas after MassDOT awarded Applegreen that contract through the state procurement process.

MassDOT is preparing to rebid the project, while state Inspector General Jeffrey Shapiro criticized process flaws that drew concern from Beacon Hill observers and transportation policy watchers in Massachusetts.

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What stands out more in Massachusetts, the delayed EV charger rollout or the unanswered questions surrounding federal highway funding? Share your thoughts.

This slideshow was made with AI assistance and human editing.

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