The city of Troy, Ala., soon could have 10 new electric vehicle charging stations located at five sites — the local hospital, museum, university, downtown center and sports complex — all funded with $724,192 in federal funds from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. 

The city of 17,836 is one of 49 recipients of a total of $635 million in IIJA money announced Jan. 10 by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration. The aim is to put 11,500 chargers in underserved areas ― rural and urban ― and along major highways in 27 states and the District of Columbia, according to the DOT press release.  

The grants represent the second round of funding from the IIJA’s $2.5 billion Charging and Fueling Infrastructure (CFI) program, which is a competitive program. The second funding opportunity drew high interest, with the FHWA reporting it received 416 applications requesting a total of $4.05 billion, more than six times the amount available.  

The first round of CFI funding went out in two installments: $622.57 million to 47 projects in January 2024 and $521.19 million to 51 projects in August 2024. 

In addition to EV chargers, the grants also will support hydrogen fueling stations for heavy-duty vehicles. For example, a $24.8 million award to the Port Authority of Houston will be used to install and operate a publicly accessible hydrogen fueling station in Bayport, an industrial area in the port.  

The California Energy Commission won the largest award, $55.9 million, for EV fast chargers and a hydrogen fueling station for medium- and heavy-duty trucks traveling on major routes in and between California and Nevada.  

Some of the federal money will be used for “micromobility” charging for electric bikes and scooters, such as in San Bernardino, Calif., and Hollywood, Fla.  

Hailing the new grants in the press release, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said, they will help “support the EV transition and make sure it’s made in America. These investments will help states and communities build out a network of EV chargers in the coming years so that one day, finding a charge on a road trip will be as easy as filling up at a gas station.” 

“Americans deserve real choices in how they get around,” said Gabe Klein, executive director of the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation. “[These] investments supplement a combination of federal tax incentives, state and local funding and private investment to fill gaps in the nation’s rapidly growing alternative fueling network and ensure all communities — whether rural, urban, or suburban — have access to convenient, reliable and affordable zero-emission transportation options.” 

If fully funded, individual grants could put hundreds of fast and Level 2 chargers at public locations across the country, including: 

• • $15 million for D.C. to install 454 charging ports at 220 locations, including retail destinations, multifamily properties, car-sharing spaces, curbside spaces and public parking lots. 

• • $8 million to the Louisville-Jefferson County Metro Government in Kentucky to install an estimated 184 charging ports at 39 city-owned locations and one university campus. Also, an urban charging hub powered in part by a solar canopy would be created at a retired coal plant. 

• • $15 million grant for Minnesota’s Metropolitan Council to deploy 1,875 charging ports across the region, especially prioritizing rental housing, rural areas, low- and moderate-income neighborhoods and environmental justice communities.  

Depending on their speed of charging, direct current fast chargers can top up an EV battery in a half hour or less, while Level 2 chargers, often used for home charging, can take several hours.  

The Trump Effect

But whether Minnesota, Troy or any of the other Round 2 grant recipients will see the money or chargers remains uncertain. The awardees must negotiate final contracts with a DOT that likely will have different priorities under the second administration of President-elect Donald Trump, who has pledged to claw back all unspent dollars from the IIJA and Inflation Reduction Act. 

Trump and the Republican-controlled Congress are likely to target EV-related tax credits and other incentives in the IRA, which they have labeled as outgoing President Joe Biden’s “EV mandate.” 

Trump’s designated nominee to head the DOT is Sean Duffy, who served in the House of Representatives for Wisconsin from 2011 to 2019. Prior to running for office, he was on reality television and now is a Fox television commentator, with no apparent background in transportation. 

The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation is scheduled to hold an advance confirmation hearing on Duffy’s nomination Jan. 15. 

A cutoff of federal incentives for EVs and EV charging might slow the transition to electric transportation but, as with other sectors of the U.S. clean energy transition, is unlikely to stop it. 

According to DOT, the U.S. now has more than 206,000 public chargers, including the 38,000 that came online in 2024, putting the country on track to reach Biden’s original goal of having 500,000 public chargers in operation by 2030, if not before. 

Year-end figures from Cox Automotive reported total U.S. EV sales of 1.3 million in 2024, a 7.3% increase from 2023, with a record 15.2% year-over-year increase in sales in the fourth quarter. 

The industry analyst anticipates that sales will continue to grow in 2025, as any rollback of incentives or other regulations will take time to implement. With 68 individual EV models now on the road, and 15 more coming, Cox predicts one in four U.S. car sales this year will “likely be electrified in some way ― a hybrid, plug-in hybrid or pure EV.”  

NEVI Update

The weakest link in Biden’s efforts to deploy more EV chargers has been the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program, which is distributing $5 billion in IIJA funds via state-level allocations set by formula. The five-year program requires states to submit annual plans for charger deployment before receiving their formula grants. 

Launched in February of 2022, NEVI was intended to build out a national network of DC fast chargers every 50 miles along state and interstate highways but has been slowed by a range of administrative, regulatory and technological roadblocks. 

For example, in some rural areas, the 150-kW fast chargers required for NEVI cannot be installed every 50 miles due to a lack of adequate distribution lines, and interconnection times for new stations can take as long as two years.  

As of the most recent NEVI update from the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation, at the end of November, 126 NEVI-funded public charging ports were in operation at 31 stations in nine states, and nine more states had awarded their first round of contracts for the installation of new NEVI stations. 

To help streamline and accelerate permitting of new chargers, the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Idaho National Laboratory released a report Jan. 6, with several recommendations, including: 

• • developing automated tools that can integrate the capacity of existing lines to accommodate new stations with analyses of new installation requests and EV adoption forecasts, while also improving transparency on the interconnection queue. 

• • improving interconnection processes and timing by creating fast-track options based on pre-screening, while also providing flexibility with phased-in approvals. 

• • sizing distribution system components to accurately reflect the demand requirements of new chargers and proactively investing in expanding grid infrastructure. 

• • improving grid reliability and resilience by using demand management and power control systems at EV charging stations and developing and implementing standards for communication between EV chargers and grid infrastructure.