Last week’s U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) announcement placing a freeze on the federal government’s EV charging infrastructure program has already prompted responses from a variety of industry interests—including not less than one which counts automakers amongst its membership.
In a press release first reported by Reuters, the Electric Drive Transportation Association (EDTA) asked the Trump administration to revive the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program, which the organization called “an efficient and vital element of a very strategic energy policy that promotes U.S. innovation, domestic investment, and energy security.”
The EDTA counts six automakers amongst its members. Ford, General Motors, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Stellantis, and Toyota are a part of the group together with 20 other interests including charging networks, charging-hardware suppliers, and the retail giant Walmart. Although this pushback was a press release of the group and its interests, it’s unclear which firms might need, as an illustration, signed onto a letter pushing for this rollback of Trump administration policy.
2023 Nissan Ariya at EVgo charging station
“We urge the Administration to quickly resume the critical work of this system and minimize uncertainty for states and their businesses, who’ve invested in infrastructure to serve local and national goals for advanced transportation,” the EDTA statement said.
The Trump DOT move announced last Thursday rescinds previous guidance for this system, which was created under the 2021 infrastructure law to disperse funding for a $7.5 billion national network, on the approach to a goal of 500,000 EV chargers. The agency said it could fund projects already approved but freeze funding for brand spanking new projects until revised guidance is issued.
2023 Toyota bZ4X at EVgo charging station
Under the NEVI framework, states issue plans showing how they might spend available funding. The DOT has said it’s going to make states submit recent plans once altered guidance is complete, which is more likely to create additional uncertainty and slow a process that was just starting to select up speed, even when the cash is not actually taken away.
Several of the EDTA’s member automakers are also partners in Ionna, which has suggested that it’s going to benefit from the NEVI program to achieve its goal of 30,000 chargers by 2030. That plan makes Ionna the most probably charging-network rival to Tesla, which has already won many NEVI contracts. That creates more financial risk to charging firms, because the funding is placed in limbo—and a growing conflict of interest as Tesla CEO Elon Musk continues to act as an unofficial advisor to the Trump Administration.
This Article First Appeared At www.greencarreports.com
