Press Mention E&E News / Politico Pro May 22, 2025
Topical Mention
Nonprofits join lawsuit to release federal EV charging money
In this mention
A coalition of nine nonprofits joined a lawsuit filed by 16 Democratic-led states seeking to force the Trump administration to release $5 billion in federal funding for electric vehicle charging stations. The Trump administration froze the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program in February, citing slow deployment under the Biden administration, but the Government Accountability Office ruled the freeze unlawful.
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Nonprofits join lawsuit to release federal EV charging money
The Trump administration froze $5 billion in funding to build stations along highways and criticized the project's slow rollout.
By:
David Ferris
| 05/23/2025 06:51 AM EDT
Liam Sawyer of Indianapolis charges his 2023 Ford Mustang Mach-E at an electric vehicle charging station in London, Ohio.Joshua A. Bickel/AP
ENERGYWIRE | A group of nonprofits on Thursday joined a lawsuit that seeks to stop the Trump administration from halting a $5 billion federal effort to build electric vehicle charging stations.
The nine nonprofits, representing mostly environmental and EV interests, said in a joint statement that they opposed the Trump administration's "unlawful and indefinite freeze of billions in federal funding."
The lawsuit was filed earlier this month by 16 states with Democratic leadership that want federal courts to force the U.S. Department of Transportation to release the money. That prompted an angry response from DOT Secretary Sean Duffy, who said the pause was necessary because the Biden administration "failed miserably" to deploy the charging stations.
In related news, on Thursday the Government Accountability Office ordered DOT to release the money, asserting that the department had no authority to halt funding that had been approved by Congress.
The conflict emerged in February when Duffy informed states that the Transportation Department was suspending the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program in order to review it. NEVI is a $5 billion, five-year effort created as part of the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law, with the primary goal of building EV fast-charging stations along the nation's highways.