The Future of EV Charging Can Be Found at Your Local Gas Station
This week, the US Department of Transportation released new interim guidance for the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program. These rules advise states on how to spend $5 billion in funding for new electric-vehicle fast chargers, with the goal of creating a nationwide highway network of some half a million public chargers. The NEVI program was first established in 2021 by the Biden administration's infrastructure bill, with the goal of doing away with one of car buyers' biggest electric-vehicle fears: that they'll run out of charge.
But the program came under fire in the first weeks of Donald Trump's administration, part of a push to nix what the president has called an 'electric vehicle mandate.' The DOT 'paused' the program for months, halting some payments to the states. (The department was forced to restart funding in some states after a handful of blue ones won cases in court.)
The new guidance, which isn't yet final, isn't very different from the old language. The Federal Highway Administration, the agency in charge, says the goal is to 'streamline' the program, making it easier for states to get charger money to the companies that build them, which then get chargers quickly into the ground. It directs states to submit new plans for using the charger funding within 30 days.
The agency also added some new provisions, including one that encourages states to give their money to charging locations where the businesses that own the stations also own the ground below it. The goal here is to 'accelerate project delivery'—and it's great news for incumbents in the (now mostly gas) fueling industry. Big winners will likely include the names you recognize from today's road trips: truck stop operators like Pilot Flying K, Love's Travel Stops, and TravelCenters of America; convenience store chains like Sheetz, WaWa, and Kwik Trip; and even some big-box stores, like Walmart.
Right now, these federal recommendations don't have the force of law behind them; they're just 'encouragements.' But if states go along with the guidance, and send billions in public charger money to these sorts of companies, then drivers with electric vehicles will likely be lured to the same sort of amenity-rich places to charge that their gas-powered cars visit today.
The move makes some sense, says Loren McDonald, chief analyst at Paren, an EV charging data-analytics firm. Installing electric-vehicle charging is already complex work, requiring permits, construction, and the purchase of sometimes pricey and delayed electrical equipment. Add to that several different firms—a site host, plus a different company actually operating the charging equipment—and some projects have seen holdups. With the feds' new arrangement, he says, 'you don't have to go through a lease negotiation, which can take a long time—months.'
Plus, survey data suggests electric vehicle drivers like truck-stop-like amenities when they're stopping to charge, a process that can take between 15 minutes and an hour, depending on the car. Tiffany Wlazlowski Neuman, a spokesperson for the National Association of Truck Stop Owners, a trade association that represents travel centers and truck stops, praised the new NEVI provision and said that drivers want continuity. 'The refueling experience for electricity should be as similar as possible to today's refueling experience and should work with consumer behaviors and habits,' she wrote in an email.
Los Angeles' new Tesla Diner has become a flashpoint for people's feelings about the electric automaker, its cars, its technology, and CEO Elon Musk, but it might also be a nice selling point for Tesla drivers. If you're going to have to spend time charging, why not watch some robots hand out popcorn, eat (an expensive) hotdog, or watch a drive-in movie on a big screen?
Several charging companies, including Ionna and EVgo didn't respond to WIRED's requests for comment. The Charge Ahead Partnership, a group that represents several convenience stores, truck stops, and fueling groups, said the program changes promoted flexibility and could lead to charger growth. 'Prioritizing chargers at locations where the site host is also the operator eliminates the step of the applicant having to find a site host, and it promotes greater accountability once the charger is operating,' spokesperson Ryan McKinnon wrote in a statement to the media.
The new guidance also makes some other smaller changes to the NEVI program. In keeping with the administration's hostility towards 'diversity,' it rescinds language that asks states to consider how small businesses, including minority- and women-owned ones, might get involved with charger installation, as well as language that asked states to think about engaging 'rural, underserved, and disadvantaged' communities. States also no longer have to consider emergency evacuation plans and consumer protections when they're giving out their money.
Several environmental groups criticized the new guidance and the funding pause that led to it. 'The guidance only restates requirements already in law, making clear that the real purpose of the Trump administration's freeze was to try to stall electric vehicle momentum,' Sierra Club clean transportation head Katherine García wrote in a statement.
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