California will receive $102 million to build a hydrogen and electric vehicle charging network along the West Coast, while eight Native American tribes and dozens of local governments received federal grants to build electric vehicle charging stations, the Biden administration announced Tuesday.
In total, the Federal Highway Administration has announced $521 million in grants to 29 states to build electric vehicle charging stations in largely underserved areas. The money comes from two programs in the 2021 infrastructure bill that fund new charging stations to encourage the switch from gasoline-powered cars to electric vehicles.
“As we expand the electric vehicle charging network on our highways, we are also investing in local communities, both rural, urban and tribal,” U.S. Deputy Secretary of Transportation Polly Trottenberg said in a statement. “Today’s grants are a critical step toward ensuring every American can find a charger as easily as they can find a gas station. That will reduce pollution on our roads, lower costs for families and help people get to their destinations efficiently.”
The effort to build more publicly accessible charging stations aims to ease one of customers’ biggest fears when switching to electric vehicles: not finding a place to charge. The U.S. Department of Transportation said the number of public charging stations has doubled since Joe Biden took office in 2021; there are now more than 192,000 public charging stations in the country. More than 1,000 new charging stations come online each week, federal officials said.
The grants are designed to fill gaps in the rollout of new charging stations. Most electric car drivers charge at home, usually in their garage. But these grants do not benefit people who live in apartment buildings or who do not have a private place to charge their vehicles. Nor do they help people on long journeys from home, especially in remote areas.
“Most electric vehicles are charged at home, at work or in other locations where the vehicles are already parked. This provides a safe, reliable and far more convenient way for everyone to refuel,” said Gabe Klein, executive director of the federal government’s Joint Office of Energy and Transportation. “Today’s investments in public charging stations fill critical gaps and lay the foundation for a zero-emissions future where everyone can choose whether or not to drive an electric car. That means more personal convenience and lower fueling costs, as well as cleaner air and lower healthcare costs for all Americans.”
The largest contract, announced Tuesday, went to California to help build an alternative fuel corridor with Oregon and Washington along Interstate 5 and other major freight routes. Construction of the new electric chargers and hydrogen fueling stations is scheduled to begin in 2026.
“The Biden-Harris administration is helping California build our clean transportation infrastructure faster,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, said in a statement. “From installing truck chargers to improving our airports, this latest federal funding is another opportunity for America’s exports to look west in moving goods while tackling our climate crisis.”
The three western states have adopted policies requiring an increasing percentage of new trucks to be zero-emissions. By 2036, all new medium- and heavy-duty trucks must be zero-emissions. Already, one in six new medium- and heavy-duty trucks sold in California last year produced zero greenhouse gas emissions.
The Maryland Clean Energy Center secured the next largest grant, receiving $33 million to install chargers at 29 locations. The group is partnering with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers to train apprentices and journeymen to install and maintain the EV chargers.
Several Native American tribes also received money to install charging stations. For example, the Standing Rock Renewable Energy Power Authority, working on behalf of the Sioux Reservation in North Dakota, received $3.9 million to build charging stations at eight locations where tribal members frequently gather. In New York, the Oneida Indian Nation will spend $12.8 million to install 52 fast chargers at five locations near Interstate 90, in addition to the 16 already in use there. The Fort Independence Indian Community will spend $15.1 million to build a solar-powered hub along U.S. Route 395, the only north-south passage in the Sierra Nevada.
Meanwhile, various local governments have received grants to increase access to charging stations. The city of Atlanta, for example, will install 50 fast chargers at its airport, which would also reduce asthma-related problems in surrounding black neighborhoods. The city of Houston plans to install 366 chargers at 81 locations, including city libraries, communities and parks. In Arkansas, Ozark Regional Transit will install electric vehicle charging infrastructure at 17 locations to be used for the agency’s on-demand transit vehicles between trips and made available to the public. These chargers would increase the number of public chargers in the booming region by 58%.
