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EVERSOURCE ENERGY
Eversource Celebrates Opening of Electric Vehicle Lot in Boston

January 12, 2017

Electric vehicles of all makes can park by the hour or the day while recharging their batteries at a newly opened lot at 363 Congress St. in South Boston, also the longtime site of an Eversource Energy substation.  City of Boston and Commonwealth of Massachusetts environmental officials recently joined developer Madison Properties and Eversource Energy executives to celebrate the opening of the new "green" parking facility on Congress Street in Boston's Fort Point Channel neighborhood.

Madison Properties, a Massachusetts-based real estate development company, and Eversource Energy collaborated to create the electric-vehicle charging station and parking facility, with Madison leasing and improving about two-thirds of the 7,000-square-foot lot for 13 vehicles, including charging stations that will accommodate seven at a time.

Jim Hunt, Senior Vice President of Regulatory Affairs and Chief Communications Officer at Eversource, said, "As we work to lead the country into a cleaner energy future, adding more spaces for electric vehicles in the heart of Boston's Innovation District is a natural next step. We're proud to partner with Madison Properties to make this exciting initiative a reality." 

"While this is a small parcel of land, it's a big statement of Eversource's commitment to green energy and also responsive to a neighborhood that wanted to see a more productive use of a piece of underutilized land," said Denis Dowdle, President of Madison Properties.

Ned Bartlett, Massachusetts Undersecretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs, described the Commonwealth's environmental goals and joined in a ribbon cutting, as three electric vehicles were parked in the angle spaces and about two dozen people looked on.

Patrons of the new lot will pay an hourly rate for parking, with a maximum of $29 a day, and charge their cars on a pay-as-needed basis, charged by the kilowatt hour. That rate fluctuates but is currently about 20 cents/kWh.

"This is increasingly important in the arena of electric vehicles and electric vehicle adoption," said Austin Blackmon, City of Boston Chief of Environment and Energy. "In the past few years not only has the state and the federal government provided very generous incentives, but frankly this work is becoming even more important particularly here in Massachusetts."

"In Massachusetts, transportation is the largest contributor to our greenhouse gas emissions, and a major contributor to that is vehicle miles traveled, which have proven very, very difficult to reduce," Blackmon said, "making it all the more important that we find cleaner ways to transport ourselves from where we live to where we work."

The green goals behind development of the lot are in keeping with the neighborhood, South Boston's Seaport District, known as the Innovation District because of its cutting-edge business tenants and environmentally aware workforce. 

Vehicles may be rotated out of the charging spaces as they become fully charged, and power is configured to the lot so that as demand grows more of the six standard parking slots can be equipped with chargers.

The EV parking location has been paved with porous asphalt, which returns rainwater to the ground. The lot has been beautified with period lighting fixtures, safety bollards, and decorative fencing. The substation portion of the lot is separated by a fence from the angled parking spaces. Cars enter from Congress Street and exit onto the alley behind the Congress Street buildings on the south side of Congress, turning onto either Boston Wharf Road or A Street.

Eversource (NYSE: ES) transmits and delivers electricity and natural gas to 1.7 million customers throughout Massachusetts, including approximately 1.4 million electric customers in 140 communities and 300,000 gas customers in 51 communities. Recognized as the top U.S. utility for its energy efficiency programs by the sustainability advocacy organization Ceres, Eversource harnesses the commitment of its approximately 8,000 employees across three states to build a single, united company around the mission of safely delivering reliable energy and superior customer service. For more information, please visit our website (www.eversource.com) and follow us on Twitter (@eversourceMA) and Facebook (facebook.com/EversourceMA.)

For more information

Eversource Energy
107 Selden St
Berlin Connecticut
United States 06037
www.eversource.com


Rhiannon D'Angelo
Eversource
rhiannon.dangelo@eversource.com
617-424-2116


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