The Biden administration announced final standards that will govern a federal program giving states grant funding to build electric vehicle chargers, saying the rules would make the refueling process as easy for EVs as filling up at a gas station.
Finalization of the standards, which apply to the $7.5 billion Congress approved to fund EV charger construction, means states will now be able to begin making orders using federal grants and kickstart construction of a vast interstate charging network, administration officials said.
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President Joe Biden set a goal of building 500,000 EV chargers around the country by 2030. The country currently has 130,000 public EV chargers installed, according to the White House.
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, also known as the bipartisan infrastructure law, provided $5 billion in formula funding for states to build new chargers. Another $2.5 billion funds a grant program whereby states and municipalities can compete for additional funding.
The Department of Transportation and Federal Highway Administration announced the minimum standards to support the program Wednesday, requiring that chargers funded with federal money have consistent plug types and power levels.
Standards also require the provision of publicly accessible data on locations, price, and availability of charging stations.
“These new standards will make it so that you can charge an EV along major highways as easy as you can fill up the gas, and no matter what kind of car you drive or what state you’re in,” Mitch Landrieu, White House infrastructure coordinator, told reporters.
Tesla has also agreed to open a portion of its U.S. Supercharger and Destination Charger network to non-Tesla vehicles, the White House said. That will make at least 7,500 chargers available for all EVs by the end of 2024.
Administration officials also announced the finalization of a “Build America, Buy America” implementation plan for federally funded EV charging equipment.
All EV chargers must be built in the United States, a requirement that takes place effective immediately. That requirement includes the final assembly of the charger and manufacturing for any iron or steel charger enclosures.
A separate component of the plan, which will be phased in, adds sourcing requirements for inputs in charging stations. At least 55% of the cost of all components must be manufactured domestically by July 2024 to access federal funding.
The requirements are similar to those that Congress and Biden have implemented with other major federal subsidy programs, such as the updated consumer clean vehicle credit passed in the Inflation Reduction Act, Democrats’ $369 billion green energy and healthcare spending law.
The Transportation Department has already distributed the first round of EV charging funding, $1.5 billion, under the program and will soon open the first round of competitive funding, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said.
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Biden is targeting 2030 for 50% of all new vehicle sales to be zero-emissions and has directed federal agencies to acquire 100% zero-emission vehicle fleets by 2035 or 2027 for the government’s light-vehicle fleet.
