Feds putting the kibosh on national EV charging program | DOT orders states to halt plans to build federally funded EV stations.
https://arstechnica.com/uncategorized/2025/02/feds-putting-the-kibosh-on-national-ev-charging-program/
Feds putting the kibosh on national EV charging program | DOT orders states to halt plans to build federally funded EV stations.
https://arstechnica.com/uncategorized/2025/02/feds-putting-the-kibosh-on-national-ev-charging-program/
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From the article: The US Department of Transportation has ordered states to kill their implementation plans related to the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program, according to a memo obtained by WIRED that was later made public. The decision appears to halt in its tracks a $5 billion program designed to fund state projects to install electric vehicle charging stations across the United States.
Officials at the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), which manages the program, ordered state transportation directors to “decertify” the plans that all 50 states have used to outline where and how they will build their charging stations, and with what companies they’ll contract to do so. States have followed those plans to build more than 30 charging stations across the US, with hundreds more on the way.
Surveys show prospective car buyers cite the country’s lagging electric vehicle charging infrastructure as a major reason they won’t buy electric. The NEVI program, established by 2021’s Infrastructure Law, was the government’s answer to those concerns. It attempts to build chargers along thousands of miles of federal highway, with a focus on places that might not otherwise be able to financially support a charger.
The memo says transportation officials in President Donald Trump’s administration will write all new guidance for the program, which will then go through a public comment period. The timeline suggests work on the federally funded electric vehicle charger network may be paused for months.
Ahhh… it isn’t that they are scrapping it entirely, it’s that President Musk wants to rework the plans for his benefit.
They don’t have the authority to do this with funds that have already been appropriated. Not that the law matters at this point, I guess.
The fact that it favors Tesla which owns the largest charging network in the US is a pure coincidence. As the government announced, Must will personally (and voluntarily) distance himself from any decision that might be seen as ethically challenged, so I am confident there is nothing to fear.
The states should just build them on State roads then.
I don’t see blue states complying with his. They’ll keep working and take him to court.
So much for buying an electric car. Thoughts and wires
This is a stupid thing that only a country that wants to fall hopelessly behind the rest of the modern world would do. I mean it’s a great move if you want to concede entire industries to other countries in the future, and lose out on billions in revenue to them. If that’s the goal, then sure.
We are gonna feel the This presidency for 20 years… Laughing stock to the world we are
In the sixties and seventies we were in the top ten in every category. education, technology, etc. How far we have fallen?
It’s going to get weird becoming a third world country in the next few years
What kind of idiot country thinks it will ever compete when every 2-4 years every inch of progress, every piece of legislation, every regulation and every budget, can get yanked away and completely upended? Who will want to enter into any agreements or contracts with that?
Too many people in charge planning only for the next election when they need to be planning for the next generation.
I think they have over estimated what they think their base wants. Most people’s problems with EVs weren’t that they were electric, it’s that there weren’t enough charging stations, which government funding was perfect for.
I wonder how much oil money it took to convince Trump to do this. Will no doubt be reimplemented with an exclusive Tesla build. Utterly corrupt.