City Officials Seek Feedback on EV Charging Plans

FRAMINGHAM - The City of Framingham is soliciting feedback from residents as they plan on installing on-street electric vehicle (EV) charging stations.

Framingham is partnering with the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC), alongside Commonwealth Electrical Technologies and Leidos, to plan how additional EV stations can be put into place across the community. $500,000 is being made available to the city through MassCEC for the pilot program, according to Framingham’s Sustainability Coordinator Shawn Luz. He mentioned that the plan is to develop three or four local sites for these stations, with each site having the capacity for four to ten charging ports.

Below is a map of 11 places in Framingham where EV stations could potentially be located, according to a survey that was recently provided to the public. Initial spots for consideration include the Memorial Building, the Centre Common, Bowditch Field, and Butterworth Park.

Luz told The Frame that preliminary location ideas were chosen as possible settings that could “reduce barriers” for residents, especially within challenging parking areas.

“First and foremost, as we were looking at potential sites, we really wanted to locate these close to municipal facilities,” Luz said.

“I think it gives us a chance to really keep an eye on the operation of the stations as things move forward.”

The goal is to install these EV stations by the end of the year, according to the Sustainability Coordinator.

Luz explained that other motivations for the project include support for renters who may not have their own space for EV charging as well as consideration for high utilization for both residents and businesses. The coordinator added that city officials must review electrical capacities, traffic and parking regulations, as well as overall costs for setting the stations up.

Luz said it’s likely that some sort of fee for the new EV parking stations will be implemented, though specifics on that front have yet to be determined.

“There’s a couple of reasons for that—one being we want to encourage the right utilization for them,” Luz continued.

“We don’t want people coming in from far away to use a station that’s out of the way, but it’s free. We want this to make sense; someone’s going to be in the area and this is an affordable resource that they can utilize.”

Luz called the feedback received thus far “great,” even amid some worries about factors such as a loss of current parking spots. All in all, he said business owners and residents have expressed excitement in the project.

“I definitely don’t see the concerns that people raise as negatives,” Luz told The Frame.

“We’re ultimately trying to find the best sites to put these…I think all of that feedback is helpful; not just in narrowing the site selection, but also when we pick those sites, we’ve got to specifically map out where the stations are going to go exactly.”

Luz hopes that information and testimonies from this pilot program can pave the way for an expansion of EV charging infrastructure within Framingham in the future. In the meantime, the city is looking to develop a map that will garner more input from local EV drivers to see where they would like additional stations to be placed.

“It will give us the data we need as we move forward to continue to evaluate: where are the gaps in our community in our charging station network? Where can we continue deploying infrastructure to help out,” Luz said.

Luz mentioned that municipal officials are also working on a project alongside the Metropolitan Area Planning Council—a planning organization that aids communities across Greater Boston—to provide mobile charging and EV car share resources.

More details on the city’s EV charging project, including the survey regarding those 11 proposed sites, can be found by clicking here.