City Engages Garage Owners on EVs
The City will unveil a 3 charging unit pilot in the near future. Meanwhile, Chevy Volts (purchased in Connecticut and New York) and Nissan Leafs have already been spotted on Boston’s streets.
The City and BRA will soon begin a process to identify the best strategy to roll out charging infrastructure across the City, and to help owners of private parking spaces make the best decisions about this new technology.
read moreBoston’s “Complete Streets” Vision Highlights Cleantech
Boston launched a new web portal for the City’s “Complete Streets” effort, a streetscape design guideline development process that integrates three key principles: multimodal, green, and smart. While the guidelines themselves are noteworthy, the development process was equally innovative and forward thinking. Led by the Boston’s Transportation Dept. under the leadership of Commissioner Tom Tinlin, many experts across as many discliplines, from within and outside City Hall, academia, R&D shops and advocates, community members and policy makers, participated in an iterative, months long design process that surfaced best practices and reached consensus on a wide array of competing challenges and priorities. The guidelines are a “living document” that will help promote an array of superior design elements on Boston’s roadways that have positive environmental, energy, and human health impacts.
Electric vehicle charging infrastructure, advanced stormwater management, improved biking lanes and related infrastructure - these elements and more will improve the user experience while growing the market for cleantech products and services.
read moreBoston Prepares for Electric Vehicle Adoption
Rising gasoline prices are painful, but GM, Nissan, Toyota, and other electric vehicle manufacturers must be celebrating the timing. EVs face market penetration challenges however, and consumer skepticism may be the smallest obstacle. States and cities have only recently begun to roll out EV charging infrastructure and electric utilities must ensure that grids are ready to handle the increased loads that EVs will create.
GreenTech has been working with a cross agency team here at City Hall to address these and other EV market adoption challenges. Charging infrastructure – public and private, renewable energy integration, permitting, EV awareness, and smart grid integration are all key issues that are on our radar.
We’ve mapped Toyota Prius owners (by planning district) as a proxy for EV adoption. (The East Boston figure – 171 – is inflated due to EVs at dealerships and Logan Airport. The private ownership number is closer to 130.)
Drop me a line if you plan to purchase an EV.
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