- There are now twice the number of public Level 2 and DC fast chargers compared to 2020.
- The U.S.-funded charging network, after a slow start, is on track to take off if the incoming Trump administration maintains the policies.
- Electric vehicle sales far outpace the deployment of chargers.
Back in 2021, the U.S. government earmarked $7.5 billion to build out a nationwide network of 500,000 electric vehicle fast-charging stations by 2030. The initiative is part of the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program, falling under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. After a sluggish start, the program is now picking up momentum. There is now an increasing number of operational NEVI-backed stations and America’s charging network itself has doubled since the pandemic.
In addition to the Inflation Reduction Act, the NEVI program is one of the landmark legislations spearheaded by the Biden administration to steer the U.S. away from planet-warming gas cars towards EVs. It aims to develop a comprehensive network of chargers along the country's interstate highways at an average distance of 50 miles between every station. But the rollout of these chargers has been slow, tangled in a cobweb of permitting processes that vary wildly from states to districts and individual counties. There’s no national framework for charger permitting yet, which makes approvals painfully long.
EV skeptics have used the slow rollout for political gains by spreading misinformation and false claims that the Biden administration had blown the entire NEVI budget to construct just a handful of stations. In reality, the $7.5 billion is meant to fund the program’s buildout through 2030. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg even had to explain the basics of how the program works to Donald Trump Jr, Tesla CEO Elon Musk and their millions of followers on social media platform X.
Keeping the political hullabaloo aside, the rollout of chargers and the growth of EV sales has been largely disproportionate.
America’s charging network has doubled since 2020, growing from 96,190 publicly available Level 2 and DC fast-charging ports to over 200,000 today. Charging companies like Tesla, Electrify America, ChargePoint, and EVgo have helped build out this network. That’s a significant achievement, but it pales in comparison to EV sales growth. Sales of fully electric models more than quadrupled between 2020 and 2023, as per Edmunds.
With the NEVI-backed stations on the brink of mass deployment, they can help plug this massive gulf to a certain extent, assuming the incoming Trump administration doesn’t reverse the course.
The first NEVI-funded charging port went live last year. According to the Joint Office’s latest update, there are now 240 active ports across 14 states. There’s also a newly established NEVI dashboard to help netizens track the program’s progress. The dashboard reveals that every U.S. state has an approved plan to roll out chargers. So far, 36 states have awarded contracts to charging companies and 11 states have at least one operational NEVI-funded station. An additional 25,000 federally funded ports are in the works.
In another key update, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) also recently issued a revision to the NEVI program. It now allows the Tesla connector, also known as the North American Charging Standard or the J3400 port, to be added to new or existing stations using NEVI funds. All major U.S. automakers have agreed to adopt the Tesla standard to open up access to thousands of Superchargers to their EV customers. States now may also use NEVI funds for Level 2, medium and heavy-duty and off-corridor EV chargers, as per the revision.
The future of EV charging could swing either way. The anti-subsidy sentiment is running high in the incoming Trump administration. Yet, Tesla is the third biggest beneficiary of NEVI funds, as per the newly released dashboard. Either way, road-tripping in an EV seems on track to be awesome and hassle-free—just how fast that will happen is an open question. Even if NEVI is rolled back, the charging network will likely keep growing, but probably at a slower pace.
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