Trump halted electric vehicle plans as SC worked to deploy charging stations
Trump sent a memo Thursday to state transportation departments across the country, telling them the administration would suspend the Biden administration plans until new rules are established this spring, the Washington Post reported Friday.
The program, called the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Program, or NEVI, committed some $5 billion to help states create a network of charging stations. Funding would include paying for rapid charging stations, or those that can energize a car in less than an hour.
The state Department of Transportation has been working to establish fast changing stations in South Carolina as the state has embraced the manufacture of electric vehicles. All told, South Carolina was set to get nearly $70 million for electric vehicle charging stations.
'SCDOT has paused any further activity on the NEVI Formula Program in accordance with President Trump's recent executive order,'' state transportation department spokeswoman Hannah Robinson said in an email Friday. 'We will await further guidance from the Federal Highway Administration.''
Robinson's email did not provide details, but the Trump administration memo indicated some projects might be halted over others.
Electric vehicle supporters were disappointed, saying the SC DOT had made progress in trying to establish charging stations along major road corridors in South Carolina. Federal money would pay for fast charging stations along interstate highways.
Now, that funding is up in the air.
'This is definitely not good for South Carolinians,'' said Evan Renshaw, who follows the issue for the Conservation Voters of South Carolina.
With about 20,000 electric vehicles in South Carolina, people 'need the ability to charge them when they are traveling across the state,'' he said. South Carolina has hundreds of charging stations, but many of those have slower chargers that can take a day to fully energize a vehicle, he said.
Renshaw said the state needs more fast-charging stations along interstates to serve not only people who live here, but also vacationers who are coming to South Carolina. Without the charging stations, tourists with electric cars might vacation in states with more places to energize their cars, he said.
He and Stan Cross, the electric transportation director at the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, said the state had been on the verge of deploying charging stations along interstates when the Trump missive came down.. The idea was to establish stations every 50 miles. Depending on the brand, an electric vehicle can travel 150 to 300 miles on a single charge, Renshaw said.
Highways expected to get charging stations through the Biden Administration commitment include I-26 near Columbia and Charleston; I-85 in the Greenville area; I-95 near Hardeeville; and I-20 near Florence.
'It is disappointing to have uncertainty brought into the NEVI program,'' Cross said. 'The S.C. Department of Transportation has been running a really high quality stakeholder engagement process to understand how best to deploy fast charging stations along the state's major corridors.''
Republican Trump has been critical of non-traditional forms of energy, ranging from wind-generated electricity to electric vehicles. The president has criticized the use of federal money to pay for electric vehicle chargers, saying they were 'an incredible waste of taxpayer dollars,'' The Associated Press reported.
Boosters of electric cars and trucks note that, unlike gasoline-fired vehicles, they do not release pollution that contributes to global warming. Electric vehicles also are not dependent on price fluctuations for fuel, like gasoline propelled cars are.
Trump's memo to state transportation departments said the U.S. Department of Transportation's new leadership has decided to review Democrat Biden's NEVI program. As a result, all previous guidance on the program was rescinded, the letter said.
At this point, it is not known if Trump's action will sink the program South Carolina was depending on to install electric chargers, since his administration is developing new rules.
Both Renshaw and Cross said Biden's federally funded electric vehicle charging effort dovetailed with the state's embrace of electric vehicles. Republican Gov. Henry McMaster, a Trump supporter, has been one of the electric vehicle industry's primary champions in South Carolina.
Scout Motors, as a result of efforts by McMaster's office and others, is building an electric vehicle plant near Columbia that will employ 4,000 people. Other companies have established battery plants to serve the emerging industry.
'South Carolina has a lot at stake,'' Cross said. 'The state has been very successful at attracting electric vehicle and battery manufacturing investments.They are bringing in good quality jobs and it's in the state's best interest to see this market succeed.''
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