According to our current understanding of physics, electric charge is always associated with mass. This relationship between charge and mass is described by the equation:
q = m * c,
where q represents the electric charge, m represents the mass, and c is the speed of light in vacuum, which is a fundamental constant.
The equation shows that the electric charge (q) is directly proportional to the mass (m). Since the speed of light (c) is a finite value and not zero, it implies that for an object to carry an electric charge, it must have a non-zero mass. Therefore, based on our current knowledge, electric charge without mass is not possible.
It's worth noting that electric charge and mass are distinct physical properties, and while they are related, they are not the same thing. In particle physics, there are particles known as "massless" particles, such as photons, which carry energy, momentum, and electric charge but have zero rest mass. However, these particles still have an effective mass when they interact with other particles, but it is not a rest mass.
If future scientific advancements and discoveries bring about new theories or frameworks that challenge this understanding, it's possible that our understanding of the relationship between charge and mass could evolve. Science is an ever-evolving field, and our current understanding is based on the best knowledge we have up to this point.