States’ inability to build out electric vehicle charging stations over the past few years helped pave the way for the Trump administration to suspend the federal funding program aimed at overcoming drivers’ range anxiety about EVs.
The delays on the part of states now mean that $7.5 billion in funding meant to create grid chargers across the country and win over drivers who are skeptical of EVs has been put on pause and under review by the Trump administration.
The Federal Highway Administration sent a memo to state departments of transportation earlier this month instructing the suspension of the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program, or NEVI, which allocated funding for states to build EV charging stations. The FHWA said it would work on updating the program’s guidelines by spring.
The program was created by the bipartisan 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. It required states to create EV charging station infrastructure plans and then open grant applications for businesses to apply and begin building out charging stalls.
A “major flaw” is that the program’s implementation varies state by state, said Loren McDonald, who tracks NEVI as chief analyst at the analytics firm Paren.
“At the end of the day, this is based on the states stepping up to the plate and executing it, and that was very inconsistent,” McDonald said.
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act allocated $7.5 billion to EV chargers, which included $5 billion being distributed to states through the NEVI program over five years and $2.5 billion for the Charging and Fueling Infrastructure Discretionary Grant Program focused on building out charging ports in urban and rural areas. According to the NEVI Awards Dashboard, so far $3.3 billion has been allocated to states.
Despite the massive cash infusion, relatively few chargers have been built. As of November, there are 201 federally funded public charging ports available for use thanks to the NEVI program. McDonald noted that nine states have yet to issue a process for companies to apply for allocated funding.
Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, facing criticism about the small number of chargers that have been built, said that the program placed responsibility on the states.
“In this program the chargers are built by the states, not the federal government. And while it takes time to get a novel multi-billion dollar program going across 50 states, the states are on track,” Buttigieg said in November.
There are several reasons why some states have been slow to implement the program, including a lack of resources, disregarding the program, state laws, or political views.
“Certain states definitely gave the administration plenty of ammunition when they’re saying this program is wildly inefficient, this program is taking forever, this program is a waste of money. There’s certainly some states that validated those concerns and gave them good reason to hit pause,” said Ryan McKinnon, a spokesman for the EV advocacy group Charge Ahead Partnership.
McKinnon said the program is being evaluated due to some states prolonging the implementation or forwarding grants to unsuitable locations. He added that some of the states that implemented the program the best were GOP-led states, such as Ohio.
“We hope they really take a look at it and realize this is more of a state-level issue rather than just a big waste of federal money,” McKinnon said. “We would welcome them to tweak it to ensure that these plans are encouraging private investment and are being implemented appropriately.”
The NEVI program allowed for the installment of charging ports in favorable locations for drivers like convenience stores, gas stations, or off major highways, McKinnon noted. It also helped offset the startup costs because charges and installment are expensive.
“The folks that are hurt by the pause are the businesses that have spent a lot of time and energy and money in good faith, working to participate in this program,” McKinnon said.
Before the memo, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to pause funding for EV charging infrastructure. Since then Alabama, Arkansas, and Rhode Island have suspended their NEVI programs.
The program was intended to provide available charging networks throughout rural America, which is where a large part of Trump’s voters live, said James Bowe, a partner at King & Spalding.
“This is an example of a generalized philosophy colliding with the reality of how business and how development gets done,” he said. “The administration’s visceral reaction against EVs, which is not based on any analysis that I’ve ever seen, is colliding with something that actually would broadly benefit the constituency that this administration claims is its base.”
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Since Day One of his term, Trump has sought to undo policies that favor EVs by rolling back mandates, seeking to undo regulations, and slashing funding that favors battery-powered vehicles.
Bowe added that the NEVI program was created under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and Congress appropriated funds for the program. A legal question remains as to whether the administration can decline expended funds that Congress has authorized.