National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Program Revived And Still Can Work

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There are currently about 148 NEVI EV chargers that have been installed so in the US. Looking at that as the total number, it does not seem the program has been a great success. Though, perhaps the point of the program was never to speedily add fast chargers to rural and urban areas lacking EV chargers. It may have been more about adding EV chargers properly and methodically while requiring collaboration between the federal government and state governments — a process that was new, at least in the sense of installing public EV chargers.

If it turns out that more than 3,000 public fast charger ports are installed in charging deserts, then the goal will have been achieved. “Although there are over 3,500 more fast charging ports across over 890 charging stations planned, the timeline and cost is yet to be determined,” Michael Schulman, chief investment officer at Running Point Capital Advisors, recently noted. “As of August 2024, there were 192,000 publicly available EV chargers, with approximately 1,000 new public chargers added weekly, according to the FHWA.”

There was also some indifference in various states that apparently did not jump at the chance to receive federal funding, which is not the fault of Biden or the NEVI program, “Twelve states have yet to grant an award. Ten of these states never issued an RFP, while Idaho and Washington issued their first RFPs just before the FHWA announcement was published and are unlikely to issue awards while awaiting further guidance from FHWA,” the NC Clean Energy Technology Center at North Carolina State University states. “The remaining 38 states plus Puerto Rico and DC have all issued awards through at least one RFP. In some cases, a state’s awards may be conditional or provisional pending final agreement on contracting terms or other factors.”

Additionally, remember that the Trump administration tried to freeze the funds, which was another setback. US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy actually wrote he doesn’t support green energy. “While I don’t agree with subsidizing green energy, we will respect Congress’ will and make sure this program uses federal resources efficiently,” he recently wrote on the department’s website as the NEVI program was revived. Does that mean he only supports dirty energy?

A simple and perhaps core question seems to be: how many public fast chargers are needed to support EV drivers in areas where there aren’t enough charging ports at the moment?

Another possibility for the program is that the Trump administration and other Republicans try to file another lawsuit to shut it down again. They may run afoul of Congress if they do.

This information is a bit dated now, but reportedly, at least 25 members of Congress have electric cars. (The lead photo shows a Republican with a Tesla Model S.) Yes, there actually are some Republicans — as well as Independents and other non-Democrats — who drive electric vehicles (in addition to some Democrats of course).

There are over 200,000 public charging ports in the US according to the Joint Office and Energy Transportation. The Trump administration may try all sorts of tricks and legal maneuvers to block EV adoption and support toxic fossil fuels, and in doing so cause some delays and frustration. The overall trend, however, is more EV charger installations and greater EV adoption for many compelling reasons. Being against “green energy” is being against a cleaner, healthier future and supporting dirty energy that causes climate change, harms human health, and causes premature human deaths.