The Department of Transportation (DOT) split the funding for a $5 billion EV charging infrastructure program. Tesla has received at least $31 million for it. The move is widely viewed as illegal.
The president has made it a top focus in his first few weeks back in office, and this is the latest effort by the Trump administration to undermine federally supported renewable energy projects across the nation.
Additionally, it is further proof that Elon Musk’s politics and the company’s objective of promoting the switch to sustainable energy are becoming more and more in conflict. By the middle of last year, Tesla had received millions of dollars in grants from the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program, accounting for about 6% of all awards.
Trump targeted charging infrastructure initiatives, such as NEVI, in one of his first executive orders in January.
Now, a letter mailed Thursday to the directors and state DOT offices stated that the “new leadership of the Department of Transportation” likes to “review the policies underlying the implementation of the NEVI” program.
The DOT agency that drafted the letter, the Federal Highway Administration, stated that it would revise the NEVI guidance and release it for public review in “the spring”. According to the DOT division, until the new advice is completed, no new cash can be distributed. The letter was initially reported by InsideEVs.
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which was enacted in 2021, included NEVI. From 2022 to 2026, the program received $1 billion a year from Congress.
Beth Hammon, the senior vehicle charging advocate of the Natural Resources Defense Council, stated in a statement that the Trump administration “does not have the authority to halt it capriciously. ”
“Stopping funding midstream will result in chaos and delays in states across the nation. It will throw state efforts into turmoil, wreak havoc with the companies that install the chargers and risk the jobs of their workers,” she said. “The only winner from this chaos is the oil industry.”
Sierra Club’s Clean Transportation for All director Katherine García also expressed the action was illegal and was an “attack on bipartisan funding that Congress approved years ago.”
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