Biden hails EV charging expansion as 35 states unlock funds

The US Federal Highway Administration has approved 35 state plans to build EV charging stations along interstate roads under the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) formula programme.

US President Joe Biden made the announcement last week at the Detroit Auto Show, saying: “The great American road trip is going to be fully electrified.”

The programme was established and funded by the President’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and with this approval states can now unlock more than US$900m in NEVI formula funding from FY22 and FY23 to help expand the EV charging network across approximately 85,000 kilometres of highway.

“We are taking an important step to build a nationwide electric vehicle charging network where finding a charge is as easy as locating a gas station,” said US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

“With the first set of approvals we are announcing today, 35 states across the country – with Democratic and Republican governors – will be moving forward to use these funds to install EV chargers at regular, reliable intervals along their highways.”

$5 billion

The NEVI programme was created by 2021’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. It provides US$5 billion to states over five years to establish electric vehicle charging stations every 80 kilometres along the interstate highway system or within 1.6 kilometres of an interstate exit.

All 50 states, along with the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico have submitted plans.

“Making electric vehicle charging accessible to all Americans is critical to achieving a transportation sector that improves our environment and lessens our dependence on oil and gas,” said US Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm.

“This first group of 35 plans from states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico now have the green light to build their pieces of the national charging network to ensure drivers can spend less on transportation costs while commuting confidently by charging along the way.”

The approved plans are available on the FHWA web site, along with funding tables for the full five years of the NEVI  programme.

By 2030, President Biden wants 50 percent of all new vehicles sold in the US to be electric or plug-in hybrid electric models, but has not endorsed the phasing out of new petrol and diesel vehicle sales by 2030.

Last month state regulators in California voted to restrict and ultimately ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by 2035, a move that Governor Gavin Newsom called “the beginning of the end for the internal combustion engine.”

Image: Washington State Dept of Transportation