Federal Government Release $521 Million in Funds for EV Chargers

­The Biden Administration just announced its next round of funding – over half a billion in grants to 29 states – towards its goal of having 500,000 publicly available EV chargers by 2030.

When the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (aka, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law) passed back in November 2021, it included the Department of Transportation’s new Charging and Fueling Infrastructure (CFI) Discretionary Grant Program, which pledged $2.5 billion over five years for cities, counties, local governments, and Tribes to build out the EV infrastructure.

Since then, we’ve apparently doubled the number of public EV chargers, with 192,000 charging ports and 1,000 being added each week, and the administration just released an additional $521 million in funding for projects in 29 states.

This helps to supplement the original round of funding -- $623 million back in January – and those municipalities and companies that missed out the first time around…

…like Rhode Island, which received $15 million to install 206 stations in 85 charging hubs as part of their ‘Charging Ahead: Rhode Island Working Together for Electrification (Charging Ahead)’ plan (hey, no one ever said government programs were catchy).

“This new $15 million investment will grow the state’s electric charging infrastructure network in a smart, sustainable way that reduces pollution and helps people lower their fuel costs,” said Senator Reed, a senior member of the Appropriations Committee. “It will accelerate 24/7 access to public charging stations that are convenient, affordable, and reliable for Rhode Island’s growing population of EV drivers.”

Substantial dollars remain for future funding rounds.