The Federal Highway Administration has approved $623 million in grants to help build a nationwide charging network for electric vehicles, with projects in 22 states receiving the funds.
The grants are part of the $1.2 trillion federal infrastructure law and go toward President Joe Biden’s goal of installing 500,000 chargers by 2030.
The competitive Charging and Fueling Infrastructure Discretionary Grants being announced will fund 47 EV charging and hydrogen-fueling infrastructure projects in 22 states and Puerto Rico, including construction of 7,500 EV charging ports.
(For a state-by-state breakdown of where the grants will go, see the end of this article.)
“The CFI program complements the $5 billion National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) formula program to build the ‘backbone’ of high-speed EV chargers along our nation’s highways,” the FHWA says. “Thanks to the NEVI program, new charging stations in Ohio and New York have opened, and states like Pennsylvania and Maine have broken ground.”
More than 70% of the CFI grants will go to project sites in disadvantaged communities, the agency says.
The projects funded by the grants include those for EV charging and hydrogen fueling in urban and rural communities, as well as those along busier roads designated as Alternative Fuel Corridors, which are part of the core national charging and alternative-fuel network. To qualify for the CFI grants, the chargers must adhere to Made in America rules, and their installation and maintenance must follow “strong workforce standards,” according to the FHWA.
