Federal NEVI EV charger program cancelled

[Riviot]

I'll stay as apolitical as I can and just break down the government funding and award process, as I know it from my government budget/funding/procurement experience.

-Legislators pass bill authorizing spending, president signs, the law governs who makes rules on spending (usually agency level)
-Legislators fund bill
-Executive branch/department/agency develops rules for spending*
-Agency funds a division's pot**
-Division commits funds to a project ***
-Division obligates funds when awarded to a vendor, other agency or state, or internal transfer
-Funds are expended when project, or defined parts, reach completion; division must partially or fully receipt for funds to disperse

*This is the step the agency is reviewing. Agencies do it all the time for different reasons.
**Agencies can pull unobligated funds from divisions at any time
***Agencies can cancel commitments at any time

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[risingphoenix]

This EO is not a temporary pause of NEVI funding so that it can be examined before being disbursed, as some have suggested. It is almost certainly one of several deliberate withholds of Congressionally approved funding that the Administration disagrees with, and is part of a deliberate effort challenging the validity of the 1974 Impoundment Control Act (ICA). The inevitable legal challenge will be decided by the Supreme Court at some point.

Until then, NEVI funding, along with other funding efforts supporting clean technology such as the DOE loan to Rivian that are already impounded will likely remain so until the case gets to the SCOTUS. We should not be surprised if the Supreme Court decision is one that breaks from those of the recent past, and finds that the ICA is invalid. Such a decisions will essentially uphold the ability of the Executive branch to determine where funding approved by Congress may be spent and effectively endorsing all Presidential impoundment.

Given the above, it would seem likely that the build out of the public EV charging network will be slowed considerably for the next several years. This will have the effect of increasing range anxiety among potential EV customers, and depressing sales. It is of course the potential start of a vicious cycle that could mean not merely the slowing of EV sales in the US and Canada, but perhaps even complete stagnation.

The good news is that movement toward the use of clean technology in general, and EV adoption specifically, will continue in the rest of the world. The bad news is that with the US a victim of an own goal, we voluntarily cede the market for clean technology products, particularly EVs, to the Chinese.

Bravo! We can end the thread now.

 

[Donald Stanfield]

The money hasn't been spent because it's actually all being vetted like people expect it to be. It isn't just a blank check to companies that install EV chargers.

Construction projects don't take this long to plan in the private sector, which is historically more risk averse than the federal government. By necessity, the private sector is more efficient and wastes less money.

 

[Dark-Fx]

Construction projects don't take this long to plan in the private sector, which is historically more risk averse than the federal government. By necessity, the private sector is more efficient and wastes less money.

Private sector won't put stations in where they are needed, but won't be profitable. The government doesn't have an issue doing that under the guise of accessibility. Private companies are willing to do it under NEVI because a big part of the ROI equation is being eliminated by the government.

 

[Zoidz]

But that’s not the debate the current administration is willing accept. They are in denial of the original question the climate change is real. That’s the huge issue. There is no debate about that and its impacts to the earth climate system. How we respond and best courses of action are debatable not weather its a real threat or not.

I don't see any representatives of the current administration posting here. This is about promoting interesting debate and discussion between members here.

 

[Donald Stanfield]

Private sector won't put stations in where they are needed, but won't be profitable. The government doesn't have an issue doing that under the guise of accessibility. Private companies are willing to do it under NEVI because a big part of the ROI equation is being eliminated by the government.

Oh my comment wasn’t arguing against public funding, I agree the government should be the ones supplying the infrastructure for the US to grow and remain competitive. It’s the same with having freeways and a decent electrical grid.

I said the thing about efficiency to speak about the time it’s taken to actually get action. What you’ve wrote is the good thing about government funding, they can use the common good as a motivation instead of profit as that’s what we pay taxes for.

The bad is the government has no motivation to use those funds as wisely as a private company would because they aren’t accountable to the penny like a corporation is. All the money a corporation spends is accounted for and projects are evaluated on whether or not they made money.

So it’s a good idea to force the government to spend with that same level of accountability.

 

[PeterSK]

My state didn't build a single station with the funds and we are a full on Democrat state all about pushing EVs. So what was taking so long?

I think it's worth pausing and looking into all the bureaucracy behind the dispensing of funds.

As others have said investing in infrastructure is a good idea but I'm not sure why this money hasn't been spent already and why the chargers aren't already running. I think a review of that is a good thing.

Construction projects don't take this long to plan in the private sector, which is historically more risk averse than the federal government. By necessity, the private sector is more efficient and wastes less money.

Most of the time spent was way upstream of construction projects. The law was passed in late 2021, then federal funding and requirements had to be decided which took much of 2022 and into 2023. The states had to develop EV charging deployment plans to apply for the funding, and deployment could begin to start. Each deployment of course then involves private charging companies, land owners like shopping centers and service stations, local planning boards, and of course utilities. Some states were more prepared than others - the first site under NEVI was opened in Ohio in December 2023. Other states are far behind because they had to create state-level plans from scratch.

Despite what certain news reports or politicians would have you believe early last year, the $7.5B wasn’t spent to build 8 stations. In fact very little had been spent at that point, as the spigots were just opening and the whole program was planned to go until 2030. So as others have said above, the whole process has been fully vetted - that’s exactly why deployment has taken time.

 

[Donald Stanfield]

Most of the time spent was way upstream of construction projects. The law was passed in late 2021, then federal funding and requirements had to be decided which took much of 2022 and into 2023. The states had to develop EV charging deployment plans to apply for the funding, and deployment could begin to start. Each deployment of course then involves private charging companies, land owners like shopping centers and service stations, local planning boards, and of course utilities. Some states were more prepared than others - the first site under NEVI was opened in Ohio in December 2023. Other states are far behind because they had to create state-level plans from scratch.

Despite what certain news reports or politicians would have you believe early last year, the $7.5B wasn’t spent to build 8 stations. In fact very little had been spent at that point, as the spigots were just opening and the whole program was planned to go until 2030. So as others have said above, the whole process has been fully vetted - that’s exactly why deployment has taken time.

Yeah, I understand the process; it doesn't change that it's inefficient. Corporate financing is just as involved but doesn't take as long.

 

[SANZC02]

I’ve seen a couple of posts here mentioning how slow the buildouts are happening.

I think people are underestimating how long stations take to get setup. I’ve seen several go up around my places in the last 5 years, everyone took over a year from the time they broke ground until they were open to the public. That does not even count the pre-construction work of securing a location and negotiating with the power companies to ensure the grid in that location is capable of supporting the demand.

 

[BigSkies]

I’ve seen a couple of posts here mentioning how slow the buildouts are happening.

I think people are underestimating how long stations take to get setup. I’ve seen several go up around my places in the last 5 years, everyone took over a year from the time they broke ground until they were open to the public. That does not even count the pre-construction work of securing a location and negotiating with the power companies to ensure the grid in that location is capable of supporting the demand.

Many people are also ignoring that the process was deliberately designed to be thoughtful over fast.

The legislation could have been written in a way that allowed companies to apply for funding directly from the federal government while bypassing states. It would have been much faster.

However, this would have left out local stakeholders, states wouldn't have a say, and we'd be hearing complaints about how it was rushed and chargers are in bad locations.

While I see the argument for going with the faster approach, I think the idea of going through a state-led process with stakeholder feedback and deliberate planning was the right one.

 

[virgnia_rivian]

From the article:

I don’t believe FHWA has the authority to pause or rescind any aspect of NEVI. The Trump administration is clearly trying to stop or pause programs like NEVI for as long as they can, but I assume lawsuits from states will start soon, and this will go to court and Congress … but the Trump admin will succeed in just causing havoc and slowing things down for a while. In the end, the Trump administration will likely fail, as only Congress can fundamentally revise and stop the NEVI program.

 

[Rivdog]

Trump is just burying federal attorneys in lawsuits while also trying to fire said attorneys and the support staff that will assist in defending his policies. It’s comical incompetence.

Without attorneys to defend the lawsuits, it’ll be hard for Trump to win. The ones who remain will be too overworked to do a decent job.

 

[Hereforthesnacks]

My state didn't build a single station with the funds and we are a full on Democrat state all about pushing EVs. So what was taking so long?

I think it's worth pausing and looking into all the bureaucracy behind the dispensing of funds.

You want to pause the inaction? Lol

 

[HaveBlue]

What's good for all of us is that it matters little whether CCS or J3400 wins at this point because both are using the same protocol and just require an adapter one way or the other.

To the point of this thread, I'm against these EOs. I think they are being misused by Presidents to make law. Despite Congress being the opposite of Progress, it is the best system we have to avoid one person making laws.

Whether we need the NEVI funding is hard to say. The government built the Federal highway system to promote commerce. I view that as a similar goal. EA has failed repeatedly as a viable network and Tesla has been successful without so who knows. Both are now approaching the cost of gasoline to operate.

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