As lawmakers look to enact policies that encourage drivers to purchase electric vehicles (EV), several states have introduced measures mandating that gasoline service stations and/or parking areas at commercial buildings have a certain number of charging stations.
Of the 348 active pieces of legislation related to EV charging mandates, bills introduced in five states explicitly require the installation of EV charging stations at newly constructed service stations and commercial building parking spaces.
Legislation related to commercial buildings with parking spaces
- Colorado (CO HB 1218), New York (NY AB 3179, NY SB 7406) and Massachusetts (MA S 2008) have introduced measures that would require new and existing commercial buildings to include a certain percentage of parking spaces be reserved for EV charging ports.
- Rhode Island (RI SB 2209) expands the mandate for the installation of EV parking spaces to also include certain businesses, municipalities and housing developments.
Legislation related to gas stations
- Maryland (MD HB 835) would require newly built retail service stations to include electric charging stations.
- Similarly, in New York, lawmakers introduced legislation in 2021 (NY AB 8409, NY SB 6692) that would require an equal number or greater number of electric vehicle charging stations to be installed at gasoline stations that are installing new gas pumps.
The state-level focus on increasing charging stations comes on the heels of President Biden signing the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) into law, which included significant funds to incentivize the build-out of a national network of electric vehicle charging infrastructure ($5 billion over five years) to facilitate long-distance travel and provide convenient charging where people live and work.
“Many of our members are actively building EV charging infrastructure and have first-hand knowledge of the technology, energy requirements, permitting and logistics for locating and maintaining charging units,” Jennifer Platt, ICSC vice president of federal operations, said. “We believe that as the government focuses on increasing the development of EV charging infrastructure, policies should be incentive-based and adaptable for each project’s unique parameters.”
ICSC continues to work with officials at the state and federal level on the development of guidance for electric vehicle infrastructure deployment and recently submitted a letter to the U.S. Department of Transportation.
