Trump administration orders states to halt EV charging programs
Source: Washington Post
Trump administration orders states to halt EV charging programs
Billions of dollars set to flow to fast EV chargers along highways is at risk.
February 6, 2025 at 9:15 p.m. EST Yesterday at 9:15 p.m. EST
Pedestrians walk by an electric vehicle charging station in Corte Madera, California. The Trump administration has ordered a halt on EV charging programs. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
By Shannon Osaka and Jake Spring
In a memo released Thursday, the Federal Highway Administration ordered states to halt a $5 billion program to build fast EV chargers on highways nationwide — an initiative that President Donald Trump cited as an example of the “Green New Deal.”
Ask your climate questions. With the help of generative Al, we'll try to deliver answers based on our published reporting.
The letter informs state transportation directors — who are in charge of administering the program — that any plans approved by the Biden administration are now suspended until the Transportation Department provides new guidelines in the spring. “Effective immediately, no new obligations may occur under the NEVI formula program,” the letter reads.
{snip}
By Shannon Osaka
Shannon Osaka is a climate reporter covering policy, culture, and science for The Washington Post. Before joining The Post, she was a climate reporter at the nonprofit environmental outlet Grist.follow on X@shannonosaka
By Jake Spring
Jake Spring joined The Washington Post climate desk in 2025. Previously, he worked as a Reuters correspondent in Brazil and China, served as editor of China Economic Review and covered business for The Sun News.follow on X@jakespring
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2025/02/06/trump-ev-charging-halt-transportation-department/
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JohnSJ
(98,102 posts)
FBaggins
(28,042 posts)Trump can't tell states that they can't build EV charging stations (and isn't). But he can tell them that the federal funds that had been supporting some of those infrastructure decisions will no longer flow.
Bluetus
(778 posts)The Executive branch has no such authority. Remember when Reagan used to cry about not having the "line item veto". This is exactly that same issue. Under our Constitution, the President has no authority to pick and choose, or move funds around except as Congress explicitly authorizes in each funding bill.
Where are the courts? Where are the lawsuits?
IronLionZion
(48,056 posts)since the charging stations would be nationwide along interstate highways.
Think. Again.
(21,843 posts)
BaronChocula
(2,588 posts)I swear those people have their gun sights aimed at their own feet. They can't see the forest through their knee-jerk hateful spite.
kkmarie
(80 posts)Maybe I'm giving them to much credit but maybe they are attacking the "green new deal" because they figured out a way to make money from it. There's to many people running all of this to make a mistake. I wonder if the plan is to (almost) bankrupt Tesla and then have federal government bail Tesla out. Tesla sales are coming to a screeching halt both here and in Europe. I think there's a much bigger grift going on in the background.
KPN
(16,472 posts)benefit Musk's Tesla charging stations as opposed to other vendors. If and when the federal money spigot is reopened, we'll see I guess.
DallasNE
(7,716 posts)Why else would they be doing this freeze?
BidenRocks
(1,159 posts)That would be like needing a Chevy only, or Ford only gas station.
Any charger, any car.
DallasNE
(7,716 posts)A gas station about 2 miles from where I live has a charging station that I'm sure is not Tesla. The idea for the State freeze is to prevent states like California, that has strong laws on pollution, from beating Tesla to building charging stations. Those are things you don't build until demand has reached a certain level so that gives Tesla first crack at thickening charging stations.
Eugene
(63,723 posts)It gives Musk a short-term advantage which can prop up Tesla's stock price.
Of course, this hurts everybody in the long term.
Bengus81
(8,332 posts)being built by the Federal Government. He sure didn't do it out the goodness of his non-existing heart.
Historic NY
(38,620 posts)
tinrobot
(11,488 posts)Not a big deal, really.
Polybius
(19,447 posts)From what I hear, they pay a little more than those of us with Tesla's.
Du916
(68 posts)This seems intended to protect Tesla and Musk, and likely is at Musk’s urging. I drive an EV (not a Tesla SwastiCar or WankPanzer). Right now, the best DC fast charging network unquestionably is Tesla’s, which now is opening its chargers to other brands of vehicles. In many places I travel, the only fast charging available is at Tesla chargers. This poses a real dilemma in that I prefer not to ever use Tesla products or services, but there is no viable option.
By taking away federal funding, the Trump administration is helping Tesla to maintain what amounts to monopoly power, or at least significant market power, over the provision of DC fast charging services. This will allow Tesla to raise its prices without facing any competitive response. But any chance of an investigation by Trump’s DOJ Antitrust Division or FTC is nonexistent, and the Government is largely immune from the Antitrust Laws.
I hope the States come in and offer some incentives. This could happen here in NY, CA and the Northeast, but I don’t see it as realistic in Dumbfuckistan.
PaulRevere08
(458 posts)
Initech
(104,170 posts)
Hassin Bin Sober
(26,954 posts)I think it’s clear he has his sights set on other ventures - like a fascist techno-state.
ReRe
(11,376 posts)This is probably because Elonpoopsies Tesla is tanking. No?
Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin
(120,154 posts)Blow it out your ass.
If you do it might dislodge your head.
Magoo48
(6,062 posts)HarryM
(343 posts)Where are people supposed to charge their swastikars and mobile dumpsters?
Martin Eden
(13,984 posts)Ideological knee-jerk reaction against environmentalism, destructive and viscerally stupid.
Bengus81
(8,332 posts)
marmar
(78,307 posts)Elon is up to something and most likely told Trump to do this
JT45242
(3,195 posts)Of course, Apartheid Clyde is getting plenty other returns on investment in his billions of dollars to the Mango Mussolini camp in direct donations and the amount of money lost by twitter to turn it into the hell hole that it is now as a contribution in kind.
It will, of course slow the sale of electric cars for people like me, who need to be able to make a 7 hour drive to family with only a stop long enough for a meal (preferably, only a bathroom break and getting something to go that is car friendly -- i.e 10-15 minutes when I gas my car, use the bathroom, and get carry out). No charges on the highways and that means that even when the next car rolls around when the older car dies, that it will be another traditional hybrid.
Plus, doesn't musk sell key components to these chargers like the actual cords?
Lokee11
(299 posts)I thought I knew but clearly I was/am mistaken and obviously a fool - 
Welp - On to check the Is He Dead yet? thread - wish me luck - we are all gonna need it.
✊FDT! and the entire GOP - without them none of this BULL💩 is possible!
cab67
(3,281 posts)We rented an EV (not a Tesla) last year in New York. We drove it around NYC and New Jersey, but finding charging stations - even in an area that should be thick with them - proved nearly impossible. We ended up stranded somewhere in Queens, near a strip mall that the charging station-finding app assured us (falsely) was the location of a charging station. We had no choice but to abandon the car and have it towed back to the airport.
(I suspect the real problem wasn't the absence of charging stations, but the app. We tried in vain to find a station, only to be led to empty lots or apartment complexes with no charging station, or even evidence that a station had once been located there.)
The car didn't come with the adapter to recharge it where we were staying. The chargers at the Garden State Parkway oases were dreadfully slow. It took us an hour to bring the car to 1/3 before we were timed out. Only one charger was functional, so a couple of other cars waited for that entire hour for their turn.
I'm sure Trump sees it as an order, but states should treat it as a request and turn it down.
Du916
(68 posts)There are Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3 chargers. Level 1 chargers are 120v plug in, and it takes days to charge an EV battery on one. Level 2 chargers are 240v and much faster, and can charge an EV in a handful of hours. These are what you can install in your garage, and are widely available at hotels, municipal buildings, and businesses (ChargePoint for instance). These vary in price and many municipal chargers are cheap or free. Level 3 chargers are DC fast chargers that can charge an EV in much short periods, under 30 minutes in the right conditions. These typically are Tesla or occasionally Electrify America chargers on or near highways. Where I am, in a somewhat suburban/rural area in upstate NY, there is one Level 3 Tesla charging station about 15 miles from my home, and Level 2 chargers all over the place.
I use a Level 1 charger to top off my battery overnight after my daily commute. My town has numerous ChargePoint Level 2 chargers within 1/2 a mile from my home, and charges only $1 to hookup and charge. This is less than it would cost me to charge at home if I installed my own level 2 charger, so I haven’t bothered to install one yet.
I’ve been driving my EV for only a couple of months now. It was daunting initially, and I had to deal with range anxiety. It definitely takes some advance planning when taking long trips and speed charging en route is necessary (the car’s Nav system helps, but is far from perfect), but there are plenty of Level 2 chargers, and apps like PlugShare are helpful.
I haven’t driven my EV in NYC, and wouldn’t given the new congestion pricing and the ease of taking AmTrak, but would imagine that most garages and hotels would have Level 2 chargers available.
We weren't staying at hotels - we were staying with my in-laws. And the adapter wasn't with the car (so far as we could see, and we did look), so charging it at their residences wasn't really an option.
The biggest issue we encountered really was the app. Most of the charging stations it indicated were fictional. It wasn't just that the indicated charging stations were not working, or that they'd been removed - they were never there. We probably lost more battery time looking for a charging station than anything else.
We had a Chevy Bolt, which I've since learned is one of the least desirable EVs when it comes to quick charging.
Du916
(68 posts)Level 1 charging cables generally come with the cars when purchased. I don’t know where you looked, but mine is stored in a storage compartment in the vehicle’s “frunk” (where a the engine would be in an ICE vehicle). If there wasn’t one in a car I rented, I’d ask for one. But I wouldn’t have known to do so before owning an EV. My bet is the rental agents you dealt with didn’t have much familiarity with EVs.
I mentioned that an EV takes some pre-planning. One thing I do is look at my destination on the Plugshare and ChargePoint apps to identify charging stations at or near my destination. I just looked on Plugshare and ChargePoint and there are a lot of publicly available chargers in Manhattan, and many in the outer boroughs. Most are level 2, which I would expect. I don’t know about Ford’s Navigation software so can’t say how complete it is, or whether it had been updated by the rental company.
Ford_Prefect
(8,289 posts)IMO this is one more viscous example of destroying anything DJT sees as a Biden Green Project. It is revenge pure and simple without any thought as to long term impact or the real value of the project. Anything which appears to express Biden's success as a president is a target for the puny rage of that spoiled brat DJT.
The memo was first reported by InsideEVs.
The program, which Congress approved under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, is known as the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program. It was intended to help fill gaps in the nation’s EV charging network and boost consumer confidence to buy electric vehicles. The law also provided another $2.5 billion for chargers in communities and neighborhoods.
States had to submit plans to the Transportation Department on how they would use the funds; once their plans were approved, they could begin building out stations. To date, approximately $3.3 billion has been allocated to states, according to Paren.
But the new memo puts that funding in jeopardy. Even states that have approved plans do not have the money in hand — as part of the program, they send invoices to the federal government after meeting key milestones. “The states don’t get the money that’s been obligated to them until they submit an invoice to FHWA,” McDonald said.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2025/02/06/trump-ev-charging-halt-transportation-department/
vapor2
(1,892 posts)vindictive prick
tinrobot
(11,488 posts)He can't stop the spending unless Congress reverses that decision.
Of course, it will be tied up in courts for a long time. So the funds will still stop.
mahatmakanejeeves
(63,620 posts)CFI Grant Program Information
To learn about CFI Program updates and future availability of CFI grant funding, please periodically visit Grants.gov and this website.
Contact Info
CFIgrants@dot.gov
The Charging and Fueling Infrastructure (CFI) Program awarded three rounds of awards totaling $1.779 billion in grant funding to 147 applicants to strategically deploy publicly accessible electric vehicle charging and alternative fueling infrastructure in the places people live and work – urban and rural areas alike – in addition to along designated Alternative Fuel Corridors (AFCs). The map below shows the locations of the 47 CFI Round 1A recipients, the 51 CFI Round 1B recipients, and the 49 CFI Round 2 recipients. The Round 1A, 1B and 2 awards are located across 44 States, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Of the 147 selected recipients, 14 Tribes were selected to receive awards.
• View more information about the CFI Round 1A recipients, announced in January 2024.
• View more information about the CFI Round 1B recipients, announced in August 2024.
• View more information about the CFI Round 2 recipients, announced in January 2025.
Irish_Dem
(65,858 posts)
avebury
(11,113 posts)agency had a Solicitation out to bid for this program. I don't know what the status of it is at this time.
KatyBR
(201 posts)Wonder how long it will take those states to figure that out!
And again this sounds like he is freezing federal funds.
mike_c
(36,499 posts)
NoMoreRepugs
(11,071 posts)He won’t hear the EV’s coming for him
✌🏻
twodogsbarking
(13,000 posts)
GoreWon2000
(1,269 posts)by tRump. tRump does not have the constitutional authority to refuse to spend money already allocated by Congress. This is another effort to help his unconstitutional co-President Musk.
Mblaze
(493 posts)into Musk's foot.
wryter2000
(47,763 posts)I hope Gavin laughs at him.
jmowreader
(51,997 posts)Trump needs money, in huge piles, for his mass deportation program. I haven’t seen any indication that a bill authorizing Tom Homan and Kristi Noem the money they need to kick all the brown people out of the country has even been introduced, much less Sharpied by President-for-Life Trump. So, he’s looking for already-allocated funds he can divert to that.
The facts that (1) he despises electric vehicles and renewable energy, (2) this is yet another thing President Biden did that he can get rid of and (3) this could potentially benefit Actual President Musk are added bonuses. The real impetus for doing this is so he can move the money to a program Congress hasn’t approved - like he did the first time he infested the White House by stealing the military’s construction budget for his cheap-ass wall on the Mexican border.
SWBTATTReg
(24,980 posts)Simply NO.
A lot of folks want these charging stations at their homes, if they can afford them, charge them overnight if they can.
A lot of folks do have the EV, so what happens if they don't have the muskrat's electric cars? Are they out of luck, and be left w/ an expensive toy they can't recharge?
MadMike47
(136 posts)
MrWowWow
(518 posts)And that's how the cow may eat cabbage in this instance.
The Wizard
(13,093 posts)Trump and his Nazi regime lose the confidence of normal Americans.