Department of Transportation Announces EV Charging Station Program

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) posted a request for comments today in the Federal Register related to the new electric vehicle (EV) charging station program. This program, which was authorized by H.R. 3684, the bipartisan infrastructure plan, will distribute money through discretionary grants for electric vehicle charging stations throughout the United States.

The bipartisan infrastructure plan authorized two EV charging station programs, the National Electric Vehicle Formula Program, and the Charging and Fueling Infrastructure program. The first program is designed to distribute money to states by formula. The second program distributes money by discretionary grants, is available for EV charging as well as hydrogen propane, and natural gas fueling and monies are available to not only states but cities and other entities as well.

The Department of Transportation will use comments from the Federal Register to formulate the final electric vehicle charging station program. In the post, the agency highlighted that the money from this program must be spent on infrastructure that is "open to the general public or to authorized commercial motor vehicle operators from more than one company". This requirement excludes Tesla, whose "superchargers" are proprietary and are only able to charge Tesla vehicles.

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