President Donald Trump is proposing more than $4 billion in cuts to
electric vehicle charging programs as part of the administration’s broader effort to scale back federal support for the industry. [some emphasis, links added]
In Trump’s budget request for fiscal 2027, released Friday, the administration called for $4.2 billion in funding to be eliminated from the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure and Charging and Fueling Infrastructure grant programs.
“These programs distorted markets and consumer choice by subsidizing electric vehicle charging infrastructure,” the White House wrote.
NEVI is a program that 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.
States have been significantly slow to implement the program. The NEVI has opened just 127 charging sites, according to the EV states clearinghouse.
In 2024, former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg placed responsibility on the states, stating:
“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.”
Specifically, the IIJA allocated $7.5 billion to EV chargers, including $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, which aimed to build out charging ports in urban and rural areas.
Over the past year, the Trump administration has attempted to end the NEVI program.
The Federal Highway Administration last year sent a memo instructing state transportation departments to suspend the program, and the Transportation Department began to withhold funding for the NEVI.
Read rest at Washington Examiner
