"States are fighting a requirement that chargers getting federal funding be made with 100% American components — a standard no manufacturers currently meet."
"The Trump administration has left no stone unturned and no fund untouched in its attempt to undo the Biden administration’s clean-energy legacy. That includes $5 billion in funding for the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Formula Program, which President Donald Trump first tried to freeze soon after he started his second term.
NEVI, as it’s better known, was meant to accelerate a nationwide buildout of EV chargers. But not much of the funding was spent under Biden, and a lot of the remaining money was plunged into uncertainty by the Trump administration freeze. The Department of Transportation ended up relaunching NEVI last August, but it required states to first revise and resubmit their charger plans, setting up more delays.
Things seemed to be getting back on track in January when a judge ruled that the DOT had illegally withheld NEVI funding, and ordered the funds released under their original terms. But the Trump administration tried another angle in February, proposing that 100% of a charger’s materials would have to come from the U.S. to be eligible for NEVI money. Current rules require at least 55% of a charger’s cost to be spent on components produced domestically, a standard that remains in place while the DOT considers feedback on its change."
