All States Can Now Tap Into the Billions Allocated for an EV Charging Network
All 50 states, plus Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, are now approved to tap into federal funds needed to build out the first nationwide charging station network in the US, the Biden administration announced(Opens in a new window) today.
States can now file to be reimbursed for the cost of EV charging infrastructure, the Department of Transportation says. The infrastructure bill approved last year(Opens in a new window) allocated $5 billion over five years(Opens in a new window); today's approval means the states have access to more than $1.5 billion in FY22 and FY23 for EV chargers covering approximately 75,000 miles of highway across the country.
“We have approved plans for all 50 States, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia to 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," Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a statement today.
The news comes about two weeks after President Biden said at the Detroit Auto Show that the first 35 states had been approved, including Michigan.
“It’s a big deal, and we didn’t expect him to say that [at the show],” says Trevor Pawl, the chief mobility officer for Michigan.
Pawl's team worked on the state's plan(Opens in a new window) to use the funding. “There was an official process to be fair to all the states, with steps along the way. The money has to be spent across designated corridors, but we have areas like the Upper Peninsula that were really lacking [in chargers]. So we had to get approval on new corridors, and then work with Michigan State University and other private sector partners to build a map of charger locations,” he
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