February 7, 2025
3 min read
Trump Halts Funding to Build More Electric Vehicle Charges Nationwide
The Trump Administration has halted funding for a $ 5-billion program that Congress Created to Help States Build Out Their Electric Vehicle Charging Network
An Electric Vehicle at an Electrify America Charging Station in Atlanta, Ga.
Megan Varner/Bloomberg Via Getty Images
Climatewire | The Trump Administration has Frozen Funding for a $ 5 billion program to build a nationwide network of electric vehicle charging stations.
The federal highway administration Sent a letter thures To state transportation departments, telling them “No new funding obligations may occur” under the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Program.
The agency said it was Suspending Approved State Improved Suspends Plans, which allows to access nevi funds automatically allocated through a Congress. FHA is also also pausing approval of new plans; States Submit Plans Annually, Describing where and how they plan to build the charges.
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The move come after two federal judges ordered the trump administration to end its wide-ringing freeze on Federal Aid.
The FHA Letter Said States would not be able to submit new plans – and thus access the funds – until the department of transportation updates the nevi program guidance. Dot's Leadership Plans to Bringing Nevi Into Compliance with an order from transportation secretary sean duffy to prioritize funding for communities that have High birth and marriage rates And for there that enforce federal immigration law, according to the letter.
The FHA Letter Specifies that while it is freezing new obligations, “reimbursment of existing obligations will be allowed in Order to not discrupt Current Financial Commitments.”
The move to freeze nevi funds is likely to draw legal challenges from states that support the program.
“I'm sure that states that have entred into contracts for a lot of construction work over the last several years will be seeking classing Clarification over what's set out in the law” Said Albert Gore, Executive Director of the zero emission transportation association.
Nevi was created by the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law, as part of a $ 7.5 billion effort to expand evil. The program is in its third year out of a five-yar authorization, and a lot of the money has already ben dispersed to the states, Said Ryan Gallentine, Managing Director at Advance Energy United, ANITED s and charging companies .
“States are under no obligation to stop these projects based soly on this announsement. We call on state dots and programs administrators to continue executing this program until new guidance is finalized, “He said in a statement.
Nevi was a high-profile part of the biden administration's effort to promote electric vehicles, which also included bills of dollars in taxing for facties and battery plants and battery Ev purchases. Thos Carrots were paired with regulatory sticks: EPA Wrote Stringent Elections Standards to Push the Car Industry Toward EVS, and Dot Wrote Fuel Economy Standards to make Gas-Powered Cars More & More.
President Donald Trump Has Railed Against The Programs as an “Ev Mandate” and Pledged to get rid of it.
He signed an executive Order “Unleashing American Energy” that Specifically targeted Nevi funds and called on agencies to freeze funding from the inflation Reduction Act and the Infrastructure Law. While two courts have ordered the administration to halt it Funding freeze, the trump administration has been Slow to comply,
Nevi's goal is to create a network of rapid charging stations every 50 mills on Major highways, which would help alleviate the range anxiety that many Ev Supporters See as a Barrier to their adoption. The office that oversees the funds, Known as the joint office of energy and transportation, was altar to convince carmakers to adopt a single standard for charging for charging software and the connectors that plug in plug into car.
But the program was slow to roll out, with the process of written rules and approveing state plans dragging on so long that no charges were built in the first two years.
Some States, Particularly Rural States Like Wyoming, also argued that the program's Rules were too restrictiveThey argued that the requirement to locate the first charges close to interstate highways Delhi Require Building Them Along Nearly deserted are from the region's fends fends.
Alabama Announced in January It Won'T Build Any Charges Using Nevi Funds.
About 59 Percent of the government's broader $ 7.5 billion charging funds have ben full obligated, and there's strong demand for the remain for $ 3.3 billion, Gabe Klein, Gabe Klein, Gabe Klein, the Joint Office '' said in january,
This story also appears in EnergyWire.
Reprinted from E & e news With permission from Politico, LLC. Copyright 2025. E & E News Provides Essential News for Energy and Environment Professionals.
