Trump Pulls The Plug On Taxpayer-Funded EV Chargers

In a move everyone saw coming, the Trump administration has pulled the plug on taxpayer-funded EV chargers nationwide. The $5 billion program which was supposed to see electric car chargers lining interstates from coast to coast. While the plan came with plenty of promises up front, it stalled out and now it looks to likely be no more.

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Under the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program, high-speed EV chargers were going to be stationed at 50 mile increments in some areas, facilitating travel by electric vehicle across longer distances.

Or at least that was the idea. Just how practical the plan was had been called into question from the beginning. After all, just getting that kind of electrical current to some areas was logistically difficult, promising tremendous costs and difficult maintenance.

An official letter from the Federal Highway Administration makes it clear that the Department of Transportation leadership is reviewing policies for the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program. How long that will take and what will happen on the other end isn’t clear.

What is clear is in the meantime there will be no approvals for EV charging plans from the different states.

For many, between this and increasing emissions standards to the point consumers would be forced to buy an EV, these program seemed more like tyranny. But electric car advocates have argued they’re necessary to get more people interested in buying a vehicle that plugs in instead of one that uses gas.

Some are hoping a legal challenge will result in the freezing of these EV charger funds is reversed. It’s possible the administration might do that on its own, rolling out new guidelines for the program. A lot of things could happen, so we’ll just have to wait and see how everything plays out.

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