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According to a federal lawsuit released Wednesday, 17 states suing President Donald Trump’s administration have withheld billions of dollars for building more electric vehicle chargers.
In February, the Trump administration directed the state to stop spending money on the electric vehicle charging infrastructure allocated under President Joe Biden. The EV Charger Program is set to allocate $500 million to various states over five years, of which an estimated $3.3 billion is already available.
The lawsuit, led by the Attorney Generals of California, Colorado and Washington, challenges the federal Highways Agency’s power to suspend funds. They argue that Congress, which approved the funds as part of the bipartisan infrastructure law in 2021, holds that power.
“These funds will be used to shape the future of transportation,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said he has called Trump “myopia” to cancel the funds.
“We should not sit down while the Trump administration violates the law,” Democrat Bonta said. The U.S. Department of Transport did not immediately respond to requests for comment regarding the lawsuit.
According to MotionIntelligence.com, EVS reached around 8% of new car sales in the US last year. This is a sign that the market is growing. The program was intended to first ease some concerns, build infrastructure along highway corridors, and then address gaps elsewhere once state highway mandates were met.
Some states with projects running under the program are already being reimbursed by the Biden-era federal fund. Others still have contracts for their site. By the time the Trump administration ordered the states to stop their spending, many more had stopped plans. Anyway, installing and operating these chargers was a slow process with contractual challenges, delays and complicated electrical upgrades.
It was expected to fight federal efforts to slow the build-out of state electric vehicle chargers. For example, New York, part of the lawsuit, has been awarded more than $175 million in federal funds from the program, with state officials saying $120 million is currently being withheld by the Trump administration.
Even Tesla, an electric car maker run by Elon Musk, who led the Department of Efficiency efforts to reduce federal spending in Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, has benefited heavily from fundraising under the program, receiving millions of dollars to expand the already rich charger footprint in the US
Despite the threat to the program, experts say they hope that the country’s EV charging build-out will continue as automakers try to do well with their massive electrification ambitions.
Consumers considering purchasing an EV often cite concerns about the availability of their charging infrastructure. It is a hurdle for people living in multifamily residences or rural areas, or what is known as “deterrent charging.” It’s also a problem for those who can’t find a place to charge their vehicles near work, or who often drive longer highway routes.
California’s Democratic government, Gavin Newsom, said the funds were illegal and would kill thousands of American jobs and hand them over to China.
“Instead of hawking Teslas on the White House lawn, President Trump was able to actually help Elon and the nation by following the law and freeing this bipartisan fund,” Newsom said, referring to Trump’s recent purchase of Tesla on the Musk Support Show.
The Trump administration’s efforts to withdraw funding for electric vehicle chargers are part of a wider push to roll back environmental policies under Biden.
During Trump’s first week in office, he signed an executive order to pull the US again from the Paris Climate Agreement, reversed the 2030 goal for electric vehicles, supplementing half of the new cars sold and ending environmental justice efforts. At the same time, federal agencies under Trump have repeatedly carried out key rules and regulations to help build the fossil fuel industry.
The US home also advanced last week a proposal aimed at blocking California from enforcing vehicle emissions rules, including a ban on the sale of new gas-powered vehicles by 2035.
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