Charging At Home & On The Go

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) extends, until 2032, the Alternative Fuel Infrastructure Tax Credit. Consumers who purchase an electric charging station can receive a 30% tax credit, up to $1,000. However, to qualify, the equipment must be installed in a location that meets the following census tract requirements, per the IRA (these three bullets are taken directly from this AFDC page):

• The census tract is not an urban area;
• A population census tract where the poverty rate is at least 20%; or
• Metropolitan and non-metropolitan area census tract where the median family income is less than 80% of the state medium family income level.

There is a simple way to see if your location qualifies. To find out if your location is considered rural, go to this website and see if your city or town is listed as urban by the Census Bureau. Those locations categorized as urban are not eligible.

To find out if your location is considered a low-income community, go to this website and type in you address to see if your location is considered qualified or not. Your location must be both a qualified low-income community and not listed as urban to be eligible for this tax credit. 

If you are a resident of Massachusetts and get your electricity delivered by a municipally owned utility or Unitil, please check your delivery company’s website for information on their electric vehicle programs. (Unitil customers, you can also email ev@unitil.com.) If you are a customer of National Grid or Eversource, you qualify for different incentives based on your income and location:

• If you are on the utility's low-income electricity rate, you qualify for a rebate of up to $1,000 for in-home infrastructure upgrades and up to $700 for the purchase of a home charger. To qualify, you must enroll in any available managed charging program.
• If you are not on the utility’s low-income electricity rate but live in an environmental justice community, you qualify for a rebate of up to $1,000 for in-home infrastructure upgrades but NO rebate for the purchase of a home charger. To qualify, you must enroll in any available managed charging program.
• If you are neither on the utility’s low-income electricity rate nor live in an environmental justice community, you qualify for a rebate of up to $700 for in-home infrastructure upgrades but NO rebate for the purchase of a home charger. To qualify, you must enroll in any available managed charging program.

To apply for your incentives:

• If you’re a National Grid customer, please visit National Grid's Residential EV Charging Program webpage or email EVnationalgrid@nationalgrid.com.
• If you’re an Eversource customer, please visit Eversource's EV Charging Station program webpage or email EversourceMAEVsupport@clearesult.com.

If you are a resident of Rhode Island, unfortunately, there are not currently any state or utility incentives available to help cover the costs of installing charging. We are doing our best to impress the need to support at-home charging on state officials!

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) extends until 2032 the Alternative Fuel Infrastructure Tax Credit. To qualify, the equipment must be installed in a location that meets the same requirements as mentioned above (the census tract is not an urban area; is a population census tract where the poverty rate is at least 20%; or is a metropolitan and non-metropolitan area census tract where the median family income is less than 80% of the state medium family income level.) Again, we are still waiting for guidance from the Treasury/Internal Revenue Service on how to determine which census tracts meet these requirements. We will update this page once we know more!

If you, the driver, are the entity installing charging, you can receive a 30% tax credit, up to $1,000.

If instead it’s the property owner/management company installing charging, they will qualify for a commercial version of this tax credit, which, according to the Department of Energy, “a tax credit of 30% of the cost or 6% in the case of property subject to depreciation, not to exceed $100,000. Eligible projects that meet prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements may be eligible to receive the full 30% tax credit, regardless of depreciation status.”

If you are a resident of Massachusetts and get your electricity delivered by a municipally owned utility or Unitil, please check your delivery company’s website for information on their electric vehicle programs. (Unitil customers, you can also email ev@unitil.com.) If you are a customer of National Grid or Eversource, there are lots of different eligibility requirements depending on the number of units and the location.

If you live in a 2-4 unit building

• If you are on the utility's low-income electricity rate, you qualify for a rebate of up to $2,000 for in-home infrastructure upgrades and up to $700 for the purchase of a home charger. To qualify, you must enroll in any available managed charging program.
• If you are not on the utility’s low-income electricity rate but live in an environmental justice community, you qualify for a rebate of up to $2,000 for in-home infrastructure upgrades but NO rebate for the purchase of a home charger. To qualify, you must enroll in any available managed charging program.
• If you are neither on the utility’s low-income electricity rate nor live in an environmental justice community, you qualify for a rebate of up to $1,400 for in-home infrastructure upgrades but NO rebate for the purchase of a home charger. To qualify, you must enroll in any available managed charging program.

To apply for your incentives in a 2-4 unit building:

• If you’re a National Grid customer, please visit National Grid's Residential EV Charging program website or email EVnationalgrid@nationalgrid.com.
• If you’re an Eversource customer, please visit Eversource's EV Charging Station program webpage or email EversourceMAEVsupport@clearesult.com.

If you live in a 5+ unit building

If you live in a 5+ unit building, the building is considered a commercial rather than a residential installation by National Grid and Eversource. In these cases, it is the property owner or manager who will apply for incentives with the electric utility.

Regardless of location, the electric utility will cover up to 100% of utility-side infrastructure upgrades and up to 100% of customer-side infrastructure upgrades for the installation of Level II or DC Fast charging, though on the customer-side, incentives are capped based on average costs. The incentives for the purchase and installation of the charging station hardware vary depending on location:

• If you live in an area that meets the income requirement of an environmental justice community (neon green, dark green, teal, or dark blue on this map), you qualify for a rebate of up to 100% of the charger costs.
• If you live in an area that does not meet the income requirement of an environmental justice community but does meet one or both of the other two requirements (yellow, light blue, or pink on this map), you qualify for a rebate of up to 75% of the charger costs.
• If you live in an area that does not meet any of the requirements of an environmental justice community (not shaded on this map), you qualify for a rebate of up to 50% of the charger costs.

In all cases, if you choose to install a networked charger, you are eligible for a $480 networking rebate (Up to $120 per year, per port, and pro-rated if less than four years).

A very important note: The Department of Public Utilities requires site hosts in this category to pursue additional third-party funding, such as the state incentives listed below. However, if you receive third party funding, the total will be subtracted from the funding received from the utility. (The federal tax credit does not count as additional third-party funding, however.)

To apply for your incentives in a 5+ unit building:

• If you’re a National Grid customer, please visit National Grid's Commercial and Fleet Electric Vehicle Charging Programs page or email EVnationalgrid@nationalgrid.com.
• If you’re an Eversource customer, please visit Eversource's EV Charging Station program webpage or MAEVCharging@eversource.com/

If you live in a 20+ unit building

If you are the building owner or manager for a multi-unit dwelling with 20+ units and live in National Grid's territory, check out National Grid’s site plan offering that can support you in developing an EV-Ready Site Plan for the infrastructure, EV charging station equipment, and management practices required to provide EV charging to residents. Up to 100% of the cost of the report will be funded by this offering.

Massachusetts State Incentives Too

The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) administers a program called MassEVIP, which offers incentives for the installation of charging for various locations, including multi-unit dwellings (5+ units). The program funds up to 60% of the hardware and installation costs, to a maximum of $50,000 per street address. Funding for this program is available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Again, it is important to note that any funding you receive from MassEVIP will be subtracted from the funding you receive through National Grid, Eversource, or Unitil electric vehicle programs, per the Department of Public Utilities.

Unfortunately, again, if you are a resident of Rhode Island, there are not currently any state or utility incentives available to help cover the costs of installing charging.