The Trump administration is reopening a federal program to fund the installation of high-speed EV chargers along freeways nationwide, after a six-month freeze in funds and a legal battle with states.
President Trump has repeatedly denounced the multibillion dollar program, called the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (or NEVI) program, as wasteful. It was created in 2021 through a bipartisan act of Congress, and unlike many other Biden-era climate measures, that law remains on the books; Congress has not reversed it.
The Department of Transportation froze the funds in February, and months passed with no indication of when funding would be restarted. A coalition of more than a dozen states sued the federal government, alleging that the administration was violating the law and defying the will of Congress. A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction in the states' favor.
Now, the DOT has started the process of unfreezing the money by releasing new guidance that will allow the funds to flow again — while removing a number of Biden-era requirements.
Officials made it clear they haven't changed their minds about the merits of funding chargers — but they're acknowledging the separation of powers that give Congress, not the executive branch, authority over spending decisions.
"While I don't agree with subsidizing green energy, we will respect Congress' will and make sure this program uses federal resources efficiently," Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy wrote in a statement posted on the department's website.
Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, who is leading the states' lawsuit against the freeze, said it was "encouraging" news that the administration is restarting the program. But, he said, it's not an automatic end to the legal challenge.
"It is promising that we're seeing some responses to our lawsuit and we're seeing some effort to give us the money that Congress has mandated," he told NPR. "We're going to stay focused on making sure that all the monies that are promised across this multi-state coalition are, in fact, given out appropriately."
Charging companies and EV advocates have celebrated the end of the freeze, and in many cases praised the streamlining of the rules — even as they chafe at the long pause.
"It's ironic that this guidance was sold as cutting red tape, yet all it has accomplished is more than half a year of needless delay," Katherine García, the director of the Sierra Club's Clean Transportation for All program, wrote in a statement.
Stripping out requirements
The NEVI program earmarked $5 billion for high-speed EV chargers along highway corridors, designed to serve the needs of long-distance EV drivers. To access the funds, states had to submit a plan for where and how they would build chargers. Once the plan was approved, each state's department of transportation would work with companies to install chargers, and then get reimbursed by the federal government.
It took more than two years after the law's passage for the first chargers to open to the public. As of August 16, some 4,000 ports have been funded but only 382 are open, according to the EV States Clearinghouse data project. But after the slow start, the same dataset shows that funding awards were accelerating through 2024 — until the Trump administration hit the brakes.
The slow speed of the rollout has been criticized by both conservative critics of the NEVI program and by some EV advocates who supported the program but wanted it to move faster. Alex Laska, with the center-left think tank Third Way, co-authored a report earlier this year that said the Biden-era NEVI program suffered from "a morass of government red tape, roadblocks, and bureaucracy."
The new guidance from the Trump administration strips out a number of requirements added under Biden. States will no longer be required to engage with rural or underserved communities while planning charger locations. They do not need to direct benefits toward disadvantaged communities. They don't need to demonstrate that they've factored in labor or safety standards, or provided opportunities for minority-owned businesses. They won't need to address evacuations, snow removal or extreme weather in their plans.
Charging stations will also no longer be required to be less than 50 miles apart — a concern for some large rural states — or within a mile of a freeway. States will have more discretion on charger locations.
The DOT didn't respond to NPR's requests for an interview. But in a statement posted on the department's website, Duffy said this new guidance would speed things up. "If Congress is requiring the federal government to support charging stations, let's cut the waste and do it right," he wrote. "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."
Mixed reviews from the EV charger world
Some of these changes — in particular, the flexibility about site location — have been celebrated by EV advocates and charging companies.
"We appreciate the Department's overall efforts to cut red tape," wrote Levi Kamolnick, the director of federal policy at CALSTART, a nonprofit that works with companies and governments to promote clean transportation. "Streamlining the program will unlock more financial gains—including good jobs."
The executive director of the Electrification Coalition, a pro-EV nonprofit, wrote in a statement he was "encouraged by the Department's commitment to removing unnecessary barriers."
"We're optimistic," says Ryan McKinnon, the spokesman for the Charge Ahead partnership, which represents gas stations and retailers who want to add chargers. "They sort of cut through a lot of red tape that had slowed down the original program." He says the new guidance will particularly help states like Wyoming and Montana — with big open space.
Of course, removing some requirements won't eliminate the need to find locations and contract with builders and pull permits, all of which takes time.
And there's a common refrain in the EV charger world: While people don't mind the changes to the guidance, they are frustrated by the delay and disruption they caused.
Alex Laska of Third Way — who had been sharply critical of the inefficiencies of the Biden program — gave mixed reviews to the Trump administration revisions. He noted that some forms of "red tape," like requirements about the type of charger, remain.
And other requirements have been deleted after states had already completed the work to meet them, meaning it won't actually save any time or effort.
Aside from loosening the requirements on location, the change is "kind of a nothingburger," he says. "This guidance was not worth holding up the program for, you know, now over half a year."
Andrew Bennett, the CEO of DRIIVZ, a company that builds software for charging stations, says the freeze disrupted a lot of projects that might have gotten greenlit this year.
In the meantime, while chargers have been built with private money, Bennett says, it's not enough: "We need about six times more just to keep up."
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