With federal approval in hand, states are poised to begin work on the buildout of a 75,000-mile, coast-to-coast national electric vehicle charging network.
The U.S. Department of Transportation Tuesday gave approval to the final 17 states’ EV charging station plans, and announced that now all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico have now received approval to move forward.
That unlocks $1.5 billion of funding for state funding that’s part of the $5 billion National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure formula program. One of the most high-profile programs in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, NEVI provides an additional $2.5 billion in competitive grants for things like increasing access in underserved areas and improving air quality.
“We’re poised to lead in the 21st century with electric vehicles,” said Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg in a statement Tuesday.
The five-year plans will “help ensure that Americans in every part of the country — from the largest cities to the most rural communities — can be positioned to unlock the savings and benefits of electric vehicles.”
The federal approval comes less than two months after all the states and territories met the Aug. 1 deadline for submitting their plans, which outline how to meet federal requirements of placing a station every 50 miles and within a mile of a major highway, all of which operate on the same national software.
States will now turn to crafting solicitation documents and RFPs for third-party partners to build out and oversee the stations.
The NEVI program calls for a 20% local match, which is expected to be covered largely by private investment.
NEVI allocates the biggest chunk of the funds to Texas, at $407 million. California is next in line, with $383 million. No other state receives more than $200 million, though Florida comes close at $198 million.
The approval comes even though the program’s rules have yet to be finalized.
The White House wants 500,000 EV chargers installed by 2030. There are currently just under 50,000 public charging stations in the U.S., though most of those are not fast-charging stations, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. It’s part of the administration’s goal to have electric vehicles account for 50% of all vehicle sales by 2030. Electric vehicle sales doubled in 2021 to 608,000 from 308,000 in 2020 and are expected to double again in 2022, according to the Department of Energy.