Bill > H4282

This bill aims to promote the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) by allowing battery electric vehicles to use high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes, enabling cities and towns to further regulate EV parking, and requiring the state building code to include regulations for EV charging stations, including future installation capabilities. It also defines various terms related to EVs and charging, establishes that public EV charging stations should not require subscriptions or memberships for use, though separate pricing for members is allowed, and permits businesses to restrict parking to their customers. Furthermore, fee-based public EV charging stations must accept credit cards or mobile payments, and the Department of Energy Resources may develop interoperability billing standards for network roaming. Owners of public EV charging stations will need to report station details to a public database, and the Commonwealth will be required to purchase 25% of its new vehicles as EVs by 2025, with intermediate targets. Finally, a study will be conducted to examine the feasibility of assessing surcharges on zero-emission vehicles to offset potential losses in gas tax revenue.