Public electric vehicle charging access is expanding in the NextZero Participant towns of Belmont, Hull, and Ipswich, Mass., the Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Company reported in the Summer 2026 issue of its Joint Action Newsletter.
The Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC) recently announced that $9.5 million has been awarded via grants to help advance climatetech companies across the Commonwealth.
Included in this funding is $311,236 through MassCEC’s InnovateMass Gridtech Spotlight program for an initiative by MMWEC, Belmont Light, Hull Municipal Light Plant, Ipswich Electric Light Department, and Voltpost, a New York-based company that retrofits lampposts and utility poles into a modular and upgradable electric vehicle charging platform.
By retrofitting existing infrastructure, Voltpost provides electric vehicle drivers convenient and affordable charging access while reducing the cost, timing, and footprint of chargers. The grant will allow Voltpost to install its first pole charging stations in Massachusetts.
MMWEC's NextZero program is a residential and commercial/industrial efficiency and electrification program for customers of municipal utilities, designed to provide the most efficient, innovative, and equitable path to energy decarbonization.
“This collaboration with Voltpost, MassCEC, and our municipal light plant partners in Hull, Ipswich, and Belmont is a major step forward for local clean energy access,” says MMWEC Sustainable Energy Program and Policy Senior Manager Zoe Eckert. “By leveraging existing utility poles for Level 2 EV charging, we’re delivering a scalable, cost-effective solution that makes driving electric practical and accessible for our public power communities.”
MMWEC is a not-for-profit, public corporation and political subdivision of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts created by an Act of the General Court in 1975 and authorized to issue tax-exempt debt to finance a wide range of energy facilities.
MMWEC provides a variety of power supply, financial, risk management and other services to the state’s consumer-owned, municipal utilities. It is the largest provider of asset-owned generation for municipal light departments in New England.
