Trump Halts Program to Expand EV Charger Network
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The Trump administration is suspending federal funding for electric car chargers, following through on one of President Donald Trump’s first directives to roll back U.S. subsidies for plug-in vehicles after he retook the White House.
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration announced in a letter dated Feb. 6 that was posted online Feb. 7 that it is suspending approval of funds intended to be distributed to states from the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Formula Program, which provides funding to add chargers mostly along the interstate highway system.
FHWA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The NEVI program was included in the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law that was passed by Congress under former President Joe Biden. It allocated $5 billion over five years to install chargers in an effort to jump-start acceptance of the plug-in cars.
Trump has made rescinding Biden’s pro-EV initiatives a key plank of his economic platform. In his address at the Republican National Convention in July, he promised to “end the electric vehicle mandate from day one” of his second administration.
Since Trump’s inauguration, the DOT has also moved to rewrite stringent U.S. fuel-economy rules approved under Biden.
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