Transportation Department Suspends Biden’s $5 Billion EV Charger Program In Pivot Away From Green Energy

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) announced the suspension of a former President Joe Biden-era electric vehicle charging network in yet another action by President Donald Trump‘s administration to shift its energy policy away from green energy.

In an FHWA letter to state transportation directors, the administration said the Department of Transportation is rescinding all guidance for the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program and amending the guidance to current U.S. Department of Transportation policy and priorities.

The FHWA said new guidance will be released to the public in the spring but won’t change existing obligations.

The $5 billion NEVI program was financed by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, aiming to fill holes in electric vehicle charging infrastructure around the U.S.

The 1974 Impoundment Act forbids the Trump administration from freezing the funds allocated by Congress, but the new White House budget director believes the law is unconstitutional.

“Freezing these EV charging funds is yet another one of the Trump administration’s unsound and illegal moves. This is an attack on bipartisan funding that Congress approved years ago and is driving investment and innovation in every state, with Texas as the largest beneficiary. Throwing out states’ plans, which were carefully built together with business, utilities, and communities, only hurts America’s growing clean energy economy,” said Katherine Garcia, a director at Sierra Club Clean Transportation, in a statement.