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Massachusetts needs wicked more EV chargers – The Boston Globe

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Massachusetts needs wicked more EV chargers – The Boston Globe


Each fast-charging connection, according to the report, would cost from $100,000 to $300,000 to install, bringing the total at the high end to nearly $3 billion. The costs would mostly be borne by private companies, such as utilities, car makers, and others building charging networks.

The lack of charging stations is considered one of the biggest hurdles to EV adoption, even as car manufacturers introduce lower-cost models competitive with gasoline-powered vehicles. But building enough fast-charging stations is a daunting task. It not only will require massive upfront investment, but also upgrades to the electric grid to handle increased demand for power that could range from 700 to 1,400 gigawatts — or about 5 to 10 percent of electricity consumed in Massachusetts on a hot summer day, according to the report.

Governments may also have to build or subsidize charging stations in rural and low-income urban areas to ensure access to charging networks, the report said.

“An acceleration of electric vehicle charging infrastructure is required to keep Massachusetts on path to achieving our [Clean Energy and Climate Plans] benchmarks for electric vehicle penetration,” the council said in its report. “This represents a 15-fold growth in public fast charging stations from current installed numbers and a six-fold growth in public Level 2 charging stations by 2030.”

The Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Coordinating Council was created by last year’s state climate law. It includes state agencies that have a part in solving the charging challenge, from the Department of Transportation to the Department of Public Utilities, as well as the MBTA, the Metropolitan Area Planning Council, and several legislators.

The fast-charger estimate, however, may be too high, according to Loren McDonald, chief executive of research firm EVAdoption. Once people buy EVs, they do most charging at home or work using slower Level 2 chargers, he said. And even on longer trips, the time required for fast charging is shrinking as improving technology refills batteries more quickly, meaning charging ports can handle more EVs.

“Once Massachusetts builds out fast chargers for the highway corridors, you’re not going to need much more” in other parts of the state, McDonald said. “Most people are going to be charging more slowly at home or at work or Whole Foods or a movie theater where their car sits while they’re doing other things.”

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Michael Judge, state undersecretary of energy and chair of the Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Coordinating Council, said the panel will revise the estimates as the adoption of EVs grows and electrification of the transportation system advances to commercial vehicles such as delivery vans, garbage trucks, and buses.

In an aerial view, pedestrians walked by an electric vehicle charging station last month in Corte Madera, Calif. Justin Sullivan/Getty

“Ten thousand may not be the exact right number,” Judge said. “We are going to continue to dig deeper. But under any scenario, we do need a lot more.”

The Massachusetts Department of Transportation is already working on two projects to add charging stations along public highways. One that would replace six decommissioned fast chargers at rest stops on the Massachusetts Turnpike has already been put out for bid. The transportation department also is preparing to seek bids this winter for a more comprehensive program to install dozens of chargers among 17 state-owned highway rest stops using funds from the 2021 federal infrastructure law.

The state is in line to receive $55 million to $60 million over five years under the law.

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Some states have moved more quickly to spend the federal funds. Hawaii, Ohio, Rhode Island, and Maine have already selected bidders to build charging stations along major highway corridors, and Pennsylvania, Utah, and Kansas will announce contract awards soon, according to data compiled by EVAdoption.

The public sector programs come alongside private sector efforts. In Massachusetts, utilities expect to spend $400 million adding EV charging stations and making related grid upgrades over the next four years.

Nationally, General Motors, Honda, and five other automakers announced plans in July to build a network of 30,000 chargers in North America, with the first stations opening next summer. Walmart is also building its own national EV charging network. And Tesla, which runs a network with more than 22,000 fast-charging connections, has started opening its stations to other car brands and allowing other automakers to use its connector technology.

The public and private efforts are making important progress, according to Anna Vanderspek, EV program director at the Green Energy Consumers Alliance. “There is already some momentum and some resources to work with,” she said. “We know that we need to really ramp up electrification of vehicles and having access to charging is a huge piece.”

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An electric vehicle was plugged into a charger in Los Angeles last year.Jae C. Hong/Associated Press

Aaron Pressman can be reached at aaron.pressman@globe.com. Follow him @ampressman.





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Massachusetts

Local startups recovering from the burst tech funding bubble – The Boston Globe

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Local startups recovering from the burst tech funding bubble – The Boston Globe


Tech startups based in Massachusetts finished 2024 with a buzz of activity in venture capital fundraising.

In the fourth quarter, 191 startups raised a total of $4.1 billion, 20 percent more than startups raised in the same period a year earlier, according to a report from research firm Pitchbook and the National Venture Capital Association. For the full year, local startups raised $15.7 billion, about the same as in 2023.

The stability ended two years of sharp declines from the peak of startup fundraising in 2021. Slowing e-commerce sales, volatility in tech stock prices, and higher interest rates combined to slam the brakes on startup VC activity over the past three years. The 2024 total is less half the $34.7 billion Massachusetts startups raised in 2021.

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But local startup investors have expressed optimism that VC backing will continue to pick up in 2025.

The fourth quarter’s activity was led by battery maker Form Energy’s $455 million deal and biotech obesity drugmaker Kailera Therapeutics’ $400 million deal, both in October, and MIT spinoff Liquid AI’s $250 million deal last month. Two more biotech VC deals in October rounded out the top five. Seaport Therapeutics, working on new antidepressants, raised $226 million and Alpha-9 Oncology, developing new treatments for cancer patients, raised $175 million.

Massachusetts ranked third in the country in VC activity in the quarter. Startups based in California raised $49.9 billion and New York-based companies raised $5.3 billion.

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Venture capital firms, however, had an even harder time raising money in 2024 compared to earlier years. Massachusetts firms raised $5.9 billion, down 7 percent from 2023 and the lowest total since 2018. That mirrored the national trend, as VC firms across the country raised $76.1 billion, down 22 percent from 2023 and the lowest since 2019.

Only one Massachusetts-based VC firm raised more than $1 billion in 2024, a more common occurrence in prior years, according to the report: Flagship Pioneering in Cambridge raised $2.6 billion in July for its eighth investment fund plus another $1 billion for smaller funds. The firm, founded by biotech entrepreneur Noubar Afeyan, helps develop scientific research for startups in addition to providing funding.

The next largest deals were Cambridge-based Atlas Ventures’ $450 million biotech-focused fund announced last month and Engine Ventures $400 million fund investing in climate tech startups announced in June.

The decline comes as VC firms have had trouble getting a return on their investments, because so few startups have been able to go public. Just six biotech companies based in Massachusetts and no tech companies went public last year.


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Aaron Pressman can be reached at aaron.pressman@globe.com. Follow him @ampressman.





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Mass. gives noncompliant towns more time to meet MBTA zoning regulations

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Mass. gives noncompliant towns more time to meet MBTA zoning regulations


The Healey administration filed emergency regulations late Tuesday afternoon to implement the controversial law meant to spur greater housing production, after Massachusetts’ highest court struck down the last pass at drafting those rules.

The Supreme Judicial Court upheld the MBTA Communities Act as a constitutional law last week, but said it was “ineffective” until the governor’s Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities promulgated new guidelines. The court said EOHLC did not follow state law when creating the regulations the first time around, rendering them “presently unenforceable.”

The emergency regulations filed Tuesday are in effect for 90 days. Over the next three months, EOHLC intends to adopt permanent guidelines following a public comment period, before the expiration of the temporary procedures, a release from the office said.

“The emergency regulations do not substantively change the law’s zoning requirements and do not affect any determinations of compliance that have been already issued by EOHLC. The regulations do provide additional time for MBTA communities that failed to meet prior deadlines to come into compliance with the law,” the press release said.

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Massachusetts’ Supreme Judicial Court ruled that the state’s attorney general has the power to enforce the MBTA Communities Law, which requires communities near MBTA services to zone for more multifamily housing, but it also ruled that existing guidelines aren’t enforceable.

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The MBTA Communities Act requires 177 municipalities that host or are adjacent to MBTA service to zone for multifamily housing by right in at least one district.

Cities and towns are classified in one of four categories, and there were different compliance deadlines in the original regulations promulgated by EOHLC: host to rapid transit service (deadline of Dec. 31, 2023), host to commuter rail service (deadline of Dec. 31, 2024), adjacent community (deadline of Dec. 31, 2024) and adjacent small town (deadline of Dec. 31, 2025).

Under the emergency regulations, communities that did not meet prior deadlines must submit a new action plan to the state with a plan to comply with the law by 11:59 p.m. on Feb. 13, 2025. These communities will then have until July 14, 2025, to submit a district compliance application to the state.

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Communities designated as adjacent small towns still face the Dec. 31, 2025 deadline to adopt compliant zoning.

The town of Needham voted Tuesday on a special referendum over whether to re-zone the town for 3,000 more units of housing under Massachusetts’ MBTA Communities law.

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Like the old version of the guidelines, the new emergency regulations gives EOHLC the right to determine whether a city or town’s zoning provisions to allow for multi-family housing as of right are consistent with certain affordability requirements, and to determine what is a “reasonable size” for the multi-family zoning district.

The filing of emergency regulations comes six days after the SJC decision — though later than the governor’s office originally projected. Healey originally said her team would move to craft new regulations by the end of last week to plug the gap opened up by the ruling.

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“These regulations will allow us to continue moving forward with implementation of the MBTA Communities Law, which will increase housing production and lower costs across the state,” Healey said in a statement Tuesday. “These regulations allow communities more time to come into compliance with the law, and we are committed to working with them to advance zoning plans that fit their unique needs.”

A total of 116 communities out of the 177 subject to the law have already adopted multi-family zoning districts to comply with the MBTA Communities Act, according to EOHLC.





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Revere city councilor slams Massachusetts officials for being ‘woke’ after migrant shelter bust

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Revere city councilor slams Massachusetts officials for being ‘woke’ after migrant shelter bust


A Revere city councilor says the state’s right-to-shelter law is a “perfect example” of how “woke” ideologies are harmful, as he addressed the arrest of a migrant who allegedly had an AR-15 and 10 pounds of fentanyl at a local hotel.

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