The Federal Highway Administration is taking a new approach toward the funding of electric vehicle charging stations.
According to Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, the updated guidance means that actual progress will be made toward building electric vehicle charging infrastructure across the nation.
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 established the $5 billion National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program. The Trump administration attempted to freeze the funding earlier this year, but a federal court ruled that the DOT exceeded its authority in doing so.
Now, the Department of Transportation said it plans to deliver electric vehicle charging stations quickly and efficiently. The DOT announced earlier this year that 84% of NEVI program funds remained unobligated. Duffy blamed the lack of progress on requirements and hurdles created by the previous administration.
“If Congress is requiring the federal government to support charging stations, let’s cut the waste and do it right,” Duffy said in a statement. “The Biden-Buttigieg Administration failed to deliver EV chargers despite their promises. Our revised NEVI guidance slashes red tape and makes it easier for states to efficiently build out this infrastructure. While I don’t agree with subsidizing green energy, we will respect Congress’ will and make sure this program uses federal resources efficiently.”
Interim final guidance for the electric vehicle infrastructure-funding program was published in the Federal Register on Wednesday, Aug. 13.
The new guidance plans to:
- Minimize the content required in state plans to statutory and regulatory requirements.
- Simplify the plan approval process.
- Align community engagement requirements with regulatory requirements and reduce the consultation requirements to advance projects.
- Provide states with flexibility to determine the appropriate distance between stations along alternative fuel corridors to allow for reasonable travel.
- Minimize requirements for states to consider electric grid integration, renewable energy and alignment with electric distribution interconnection processes, except where required by regulation.
- Encourage selection of charging locations where the charging station owners are also the site host to accelerate project delivery.
- Eliminate requirements for states to address consumer protections, emergency evacuation plans, environmental siting, resilience and terrain considerations.
- Provide states with more flexibility in determining when their system is built out, allowing NEVI funds to be used on public roads statewide.
The updates replace previous guidance that there should be a 50-mile maximum distance between charging stations. States including Florida, Maine, Nevada and Wyoming opposed the 50-mile requirement in formal comments posted in August 2022. Instead, the states asked for flexibility in deciding the most appropriate locations.
“Placing charging stations every 50 miles would be extremely challenging, very expensive and may not make sense in some cases, let alone providing 600 kilowatts of power at each location,” the Nevada DOT wrote. “There are many areas that are uninhabited and so remote that they do not have any towns or a single house that can be seen along the route.”
Under the new guidance, states are asked to submit their Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Deployment Plans within 30 days.
Although the guidance takes effect immediately, FHWA will accept comments through Aug. 27. Comments can be made by going to Regulations.gov and entering Docket No. FHWA-2025-0010.
“FHWA will consider substantive comments received on the interim final guidance and will consider whether any further changes are needed based on comments received,” the agency wrote in the notice. LL
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