Earlier this year, the Biden-Harris Administration announced its latest set of actions aimed at creating a convenient, reliable and Made-in-America electric vehicle (EV) charging network so that the great American road trip can be electrified. These steps are designed to help the United States meet President Biden’s ambitious goals to confront the climate crisis, by building a national network of 500,000 electric vehicle chargers along America’s highways and in our communities and have EVs make up at least 50% of new car sales by 2030, all while advancing an industrial strategy to continue to build-out the domestic EV and EV charging industry. The path to net-zero emissions by 2050 is creating good-paying manufacturing and installation jobs on the way.
President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law invests $7.5 billion in EV charging, $10 billion in clean transportation, and over $7 billion in EV battery components, critical minerals, and materials. These flagship programs complement the Inflation Reduction Act’s landmark support for advanced batteries and new and expanded tax credits for purchases of EVs and to support installations of charging infrastructure, as well as dozens of other federal initiatives designed to drive domestic manufacturing and build a national network of EV charging. The result is that the future of American transportation is on track to be cleaner, safer, more affordable, and more reliable than ever before. These announcements are a further demonstration of the President’s industrial strategy, ensuring that the clean energy transition is powered by American manufacturing and good-paying union jobs.
Because of this record federal investment, EV sales have tripled and the number of publicly available charging ports has grown by at least 40% since President Biden took office. There are now more than three million EVs on the road and over 130,000 public chargers across the country. Further accelerating the buildout of a convenient, reliable charging network is critically important to make electric vehicle charging a seamless experience. Charging companies are announcing new commitments to expand their networks by thousands of public charging ports in the next two years, using private funds to complement federal dollars and putting the nation’s EV charging goals even closer within reach.
The Department of Transportation, in partnership with the Department of Energy, finalized new standards to make charging EVs convenient and reliable for all Americans, including when driving long distances. The new standards will ensure everyone can use the network – no matter what car you drive or which state you charge in. The standards also require strong workforce standards.
The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) outlined its final plan for compliance with the Build America, Buy America Act for federally funded EV chargers. Effective immediately, all EV chargers funded through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law must be built in the United States. The plan requires that, effective immediately, final assembly and all manufacturing processes for any iron or steel charger enclosures or housing occur in the United States. By July 2024, at least 55 percent of the cost of all components will need to be manufactured domestically as well.
The new Joint Office of Energy and Transportation released a notice of intent to issue a funding opportunity for its Ride and DriveElectric research and development program. This program will advance the goal of building a national network of EV chargers for all Americans by supporting EV charging reliability, resiliency, equity, and workforce development;
The Department of Energy also announced $7.4 million in funding for seven projects to develop innovative medium-and heavy-duty EV charging and hydrogen corridor infrastructure plans serving millions of Americans across 23 states.
FHWA announced details for its soon-tolaunch Charging and Fueling Infrastructure (CFI) discretionary grant program. The program will make available more than $2.5 billion over five years – including $700 million in funding through the first round of funding available to states, localities, Tribes, territories, and public authorities – to deploy publicly accessible charging and alternative fueling infrastructure in communities across the country, including at schools, grocery stores, parks, libraries, apartment complexes, and everywhere else Americans live and work.
These announcements build on the well over $100 billion that the private sector has invested in electric vehicle, battery, and EV charging manufacturing in the United States to date.
Learn more at driveelectric.gov.
