Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 21A § 31

Current through Chapters 1 to 249 and Chapters 253 to 255 of the 2024 Legislative Session

Section 21A:31 - [Effective 2/18/2025] Rulemaking authority

(a) For the purposes of this section, the following words shall have the following meanings unless the context clearly requires otherwise:-

"Charger", a device having at least 1 charging port and connector for charging electric vehicles; provided, however, that "charger" shall also mean electric vehicle supply equipment.

"Charging network provider", the entity that operates the digital communication network that remotely manages the chargers, which may include charging station operators and manufacturer chargers.

"Charging station", a charger or group of chargers and the area in the immediate vicinity of such charger or group of chargers, which may include, at the discretion of the regulating entity, supporting equipment, parking areas adjacent to the chargers and lanes for vehicle ingress and egress; provided, however, that a charging station may comprise only part of the property on which it is located.

"Charging station operator", an entity that owns or provides the chargers and the supporting equipment and facilities at charging stations and is responsible for the operation and maintenance of the chargers and the supporting equipment and facilities; provided, however, that such operator may delegate responsibility for certain aspects of the charging station operation and maintenance to subcontractors.

"Connector" or "Plug", a device that attaches an electric vehicle to a charging port to transfer electricity.

"Direct current fast charger", a charger that enables rapid charging by delivering direct-current, or DC current, electricity directly to an electric vehicle's battery.

"Electric vehicle", a battery electric vehicle that is either a zero-emission vehicle or a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle equipped with an on-board electrical energy storage device that can be recharged from an external source of electricity and has the capability to run on another fuel; provided, however, that "electric vehicle" shall not include a golf cart, electric bicycle or other micromobility device.

"Electric vehicle charging services", the transfer of electric energy from an electric vehicle charging station to a battery or other storage device in an electric vehicle and related billing services, networking and operation and maintenance.

"Electric vehicle supply equipment", a device, including at least 1 charging port and connector, for charging electric vehicles; provided, however, that the term "electric vehicle supply equipment" shall also mean a charger.

"Level 1", a galvanically-connected electric vehicle supply equipment with a single-phase input voltage nominally 120 volts alternating current and maximum output current of not more than 16 amperes alternating current.

"Level 2", a galvanically-connected electric vehicle supply equipment with a single-phase input voltage range from 208 volts to 240 volts alternating current and maximum output current of not more than 80 amperes alternating current.

"National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Formula Program", the federal program established pursuant to the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, Public Law 117-58, pursuant to which the Federal Highway Administration provides funding to the states to facilitate the strategic, nationwide deployment of electric vehicle infrastructure and the related establishment of an interconnected, interstate network that is designed to facilitate data collection, access and reliability in association with the increased use of electric vehicles and electric vehicle infrastructure.

"Public electric vehicle charging station", an electric vehicle charging station located at a publicly-available parking space.

"Publicly-available parking space", a parking space that has been designated by a property owner or lessee to be available to and accessible by the public and may include on-street parking spaces and parking spaces in surface lots or parking garages; provided, however, that "publicly-available parking space" shall not include a parking space that is part of or associated with residential real property containing not more than 4 dwelling units or that is reserved for the exclusive use of an individual driver or vehicle or for a group of drivers or vehicles, including employees, tenants, visitors, residents of a common interest development and residents of an adjacent building. "Publicly-funded and available charging station", a public electric vehicle charging station that has received, or expects to receive, a grant, loan or other incentive from a federal or state government source or by a charge on ratepayers and is located at a publicly available parking space.

(b) The executive office of energy and environmental affairs shall promulgate regulations to:

(i) monitor the utilization or frequency of use of chargers and charging stations;

(ii) monitor the reliability and availability of chargers and charging stations, including, but not limited to, whether reliability varies by the income of municipalities or neighborhoods or by regions of the commonwealth; and

(iii) require, with respect to publicly-funded and available charging stations installed on or after April 1, 2025, charging network providers and charging station operators to share, free of charge, certain data fields, including, but not limited to, data fields providing real-time information about location, availability and price by port, with third-party software developers via application programming interfaces; provided, however, that any such data sharing may be conditioned on measures to protect sensitive or confidential business information. The executive office of energy and environmental affairs may designate any of its agencies to promulgate such regulations.

(c) In promulgating regulations under this section, the executive office or its designated agency may apply different requirements to publicly-funded and available charging stations or other charging stations.

(d) Regulations promulgated under this section may vary by technology type, power levels, number of chargers per site, site ownership and according to whether chargers:

(i) are networked;

(ii) are public;

(iii) are publicly-funded and available charging stations;

(iv) are level 1, level 2 or direct current fast chargers; or

(v) are all-inclusive mobile solar charging stations. Such regulations may apply to charging stations other than publicly-funded and available charging stations but shall not apply to chargers or charging stations installed at a residential real property containing not more than 4 dwelling units. The executive office or its designated agency may, in its discretion, set such standards as it deems necessary for data formats that comply with electric vehicle charging industry best practices and standards.

(e) With respect to any regulations that may be promulgated pertaining to reliability, the executive office or its designated agency shall develop definitions of "uptime" and "exempted downtime" through a public process and in such a manner to promote, as much as is practicable, consistency with other jurisdictions and the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Formula Program requirements; provided, however, that the office or designated agency may:

(i) set standards for uptime;

(ii) consider which events, if any, may count as exempted downtime; and

(iii) take into account the quality and condition of software and hardware.

Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 21A, § 21A:31

Added by Acts 2024, c. 239,§ 5, eff. 2/18/2025.