Miami-Dade was set to get millions for new electric car chargers. Trump pulled the plug
In the rollback of former President Joe Biden's climate policies, the Trump administration pumped the breaks on more than $4.7 worth of charging station projects in Miami-Dade and put an end to a plan for a nationwide, interconnected charging network designed to ease those fears.
Florida has already slow-rolled the rollout of its $200-million federally funded charging plan for more than a year, but Trump's executive order appears to be the killing blow for the program.
In total, more than $205 million in funding for electric car chargers in Florida is now suspended or 'indefinitely paused.'
The charging market in the U.S. will need to grow nearly tenfold to satisfy the needs of an estimated 27 million EVs on the road by 2030, according to a PwC accounting firm analysis. The grants were the Biden administration's idea to fill in the gaps and aid in the expensive new field of EV charging.
The Charging and Fueling Infrastructure Grant Program (CFI), which was part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, was created to help local neighborhoods, in particular, 'underserved and disadvantaged communities,' increase the number of chargers in areas that would be easy for everyone to drive to — like schools or parks.
Miami-Dade planned to use its $4.7 million award from the Federal Highway Administration to install new charging ports at county facilities, Miami-Dade College and City of Miami Gardens facilities.
As part of the flurry of first-day actions, President Donald Trump signed the 'Unleashing American Energy' executive order which calls for 'the elimination of unfair subsidies and other ill-conceived government-imposed market distortions that favor EVs over other technologies' and directed an immediate pause of the funds.
Florida has already submitted its report on its plan for following that executive order, however, Miami-Dade County does not know the future of its EV charging grant.
'In the meantime, the county has been working over the last several years to make EV charging accessible to the community,' wrote Sandra St. Hilaire, the county's resilience coordinator spokesperson, in an email. 'Charging stations are available at several county-owned buildings and facilities.'
The CFI funding grants didn't only cause delays in getting more EV chargers for Miami-Dade. The Seminole Tribe of Florida, which was earmarked to receive $933,600 to install EV charging in seven locations across four reservation areas in Florida, also had its funding indefinitely paused.
The state's Republican leadership, led by Ron DeSantis, has a history of rejecting federal plans and money. It turned down, for example, two climate initiatives —$320 million to help reduce tailpipe emissions and another $3 million to come up with a plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, create green energy jobs, lower energy costs for families and reduce air pollution.
READ MORE: 'A baffling decision': DeSantis vetoes bipartisan bill to buy Florida more electric cars
In line with that, higher ticket EV charging grants in Florida disappeared before businesses even had the chance to apply for funding.
The state received $200 million worth of federal funding from the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program, a $5 billion initiative to build a network of EV chargers across the US that would've allowed businesses, government agencies, universities and others to apply for money to cover 80 percent of the installation costs to build a network of fast chargers every 50 miles on the interstate.
Despite pressure from gas giants like Buc-ee's and Wawa, Florida was one of a handful of states that never opened up applications to use the funding. Instead, the Florida Department of Transportation created a website called 'Roads are not for Politics' that criticized the Biden administration for focusing on combating climate change instead of road congestion.
Then, in February, the U.S. Department of Transportation told states in a memo to suspend the NEVI program, putting an end to any chance of the $200 million being distributed.
'It's not really just a big handout to green groups or anything like that, which it might be portrayed as, but the money's primarily going to gas stations, community stores, truck stops. Folks that are serving drivers already and want to expand in this market,' said Ryan McKinnon, a spokesperson for the Charge Ahead Partnership, which represents gas stations and businesses.
Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and one of President Donald Trump's closest advisors, has a complicated relationship with the NEVI program. He has criticized federal incentives for EVs but also received the third-largest amount of rewards from the NEVI program totaling $31M, according to a database that tracks the program using data from the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation.
Other states, like Ohio, which put out their applications and got the money into the hands of businesses, are allowed to finish out their existing contracts.
Gas stations, convenience stores and truck stops are still 'perfectly situated' to be leaders in the field despite the funding cuts, McKinnon said.
'A lot of them, despite NEVI going away, are still excited about it and are still looking for ways to get into electric charging,' McKinnon said.
Some electric vehicle grants are still safe in the county. Miami-Dade Public Schools still has the green light for the 'Clean School Bus Program' to bring around 125 electric buses to the road by 2026 and recently won a grant to start replacing the districts trucks and heavy duty vehicles, according to Karly Pulido, Miami-Dade Public School's sustainability officer.
Ashley Miznazi is a climate change reporter for the Miami Herald funded by the Lynn and Louis Wolfson II Family Foundation in partnership with Journalism Funding Partners.
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