Massachusetts Shows Some Electric Car Love

I've lived in two major cities in my life, cities which pretty much anchor the opposite ends of the transportation spectrum.  Boston is the land of public transportation.  If you live downtown then chances are you live and die by the T, as parking spots in the city are not only few and far between, but the cost could rival your rent.  Los Angeles, on the other hand, is a city so sprawling that it essentially requires an automobile to get anywhere.  LA has buses and subway trains, but in five years living there I never once set foot on either.  While environmentalists probably cringe at the sight of the 405 (while simultaneously choking on the smog), they could at least take comfort in the knowledge that LA had at least somewhat embraced the concept of the electric car, offering EV charging stations throughout the city.

Looks like my east coast home is jumping on board as well.  According to The Boston Globe, Massachusetts will soon see 142 electric vehicle charging stations installed at 25 sites across the state.  The majority of these sites will at MBTA lots, schools, malls and parking structures.  Most importantly, these electro-pumps will come at virtually no cost to the state taxpayers: the money will come mostly from ChargePoint, a foundation partially funded by the Department of Energy which has installed similar stations throughout California and New York.  As more auto manufacturers plan to release electric vehicles in the next year or so, it's nice to see Massachusetts try to provide the infrastructure to make those cleaner cars feel like a more practically viable option.