Trump Admin Halts $5bn EV Charger Construction Program

The Trump administration has halted a landmark project to construct a network of hundreds of thousands of public electric vehicle charging stations. Launched by the Biden administration in 2021, the project invested $5 billion into the construction of 500,000 EV charging stations across the U.S.

A recent memo from the U.S. Department of Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) instructed state transportation agencies to stop spending the funds allocated to them via the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program. The $5 billion program was in President Trump’s crosshairs during his presidential campaign and may soon join the growing list of environmental programs that have faced the axe since Trump took office.

FHWA Associate Administrator for Planning, Environment, and Realty Emily Biondi said that after reviewing the policies behind the NEVI program’s implementation, the Department of Transportation has decided to rescind all versions of the NEVI Formula Program Guidance. As a result, Biondi wrote in the memo that the FHWA would halt all approval procedures for State Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Deployment plans.

There will be no new action under the NEVI program until the Trump administration issues the updated final NEVI Formula Program Guidance and state transportation departments issue new plans for federal approval. However, the administration will allow states to continue funding ongoing EV charging station projects to avoid disrupting current fiscal commitments.

The NEVI program was launched under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and endowed with $5 billion to fund the construction of strategic EV chargers. The funding would cover up to 80% of the total costs involved in constructing the public EV chargers. This includes acquiring, installing, and connecting EV chargers to the grid as well as maintenance and data sharing costs.

According to a recent Politico report, FMWHA has removed several pages with information on the NEVI program from its website. In a statement to Politico, former deputy FHWA administrator Andrew Rogers said the FMWHA memo halting the Biden administration’s EV charging station program seems to disregard the law and several restraining orders from federal courts.

Rogers argued that the memo violated the Impoundment Control Act of 1974 which prevents sitting presidents from withholding funds that have already been approved by Congress. As the NEVI program was structured to disburse $1 billion per year to state transportation departments from 2021 to 2025, most of the funds allocated to the program have already been issued. 126 public EV charging stations have been constructed under the program so far.

It remains to be seen how Trump’s latest action impacts the uptake of electric vehicles from startups and legacy vehicle makers like Ferrari N.V. (NYSE: RACE).

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