The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) just issued a new notice today that aims to make it harder for states to actually spend the money in one of Donald Trump’s favorite punching bags: the $5 billion National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program.
In a Notice of Proposed Modification signed February 10, the US Department of Transportation / FHWA says it’s considering modifying the existing Buy America waiver for federally funded EV chargers by raising the domestic-content threshold for charger components from 55% to “up to 100%” of total component cost.
And FHWA is openly acknowledging the stakes: after it reviews comments, it could continue the waiver, modify it, or discontinue it entirely.
Didn’t a judge already kill this NEVI freeze stuff?
Pretty much. At the end of January, US District Judge Tana Lin ruled that Trump’s DOT/FHWA acted unlawfully when they abruptly froze NEVI and that the federal government can’t withhold NEVI funding for reasons not authorized by Congress. In other words, you can’t just yank the plug because you feel like it. (That’s kind of the whole point of Congress appropriating money.) “Such capriciousness runs counter to the Administrative Procedure Act; it is simply not how things are lawfully done,” Lin said in her ruling.
So now we get the sequel: instead of the usual “pause,” we’re watching a potential process slowdown by tightening procurement rules in a way that could leave states with fewer compliant chargers to buy, higher prices, and more paperwork bottlenecks before projects can proceed. Because it’s hard to build chargers when you’re not allowed to buy them.
This is how you spook manufacturing investment
The EV industry isn’t exactly cheering.
In a statement issued today, Zero Emission Transportation Association (ZETA) executive director Albert Gore said the supply chain for charging hardware is “complex” and needs “sourcing diversification,” and warned that a sudden shift can “undermine the hard work and investments made to date.”
He also called the proposed jump from 55% to “up to 100%” an “unreasonable” standard that could “cause supply chain disruptions, drive up costs, or cede market share to international competitors.”
“This proposal does not meet industry where it is today and may discourage further investment in the production of US-made EV chargers. Ultimately, this will hinder the job growth that Buy America is intended to create.”
Yet another attempt to kill NEVI
Meanwhile, Sierra Club’s Clean Transportation for All director Katherine García points out what the administration keeps trying to do: stop the money from flowing.
“Today’s announcement is yet another bad-faith attempt to kill NEVI and block the buildout of essential infrastructure Congress funded for all Americans.
“Supporting American manufacturing is essential – but sabotaging a major infrastructure program and undermining US competitiveness is not ‘America First.’”
Slightly different tactic, same vibe: Delay the buildout, then point at the delays as proof it “doesn’t work.”
Electrek’s Take
The Trump administration is repeatedly trying to strangle NEVI. Courts have repeatedly told them they can’t just make Congress’s $5 billion program disappear because they don’t like electric vehicles, charging infrastructure, and President Joe Biden.
So the latest nonsensical move is, if you can’t legally freeze the funding outright, you can still waste everyone’s time and money by moving the goalposts, and that’s what this “up to 100%” Buy America shift is. It’s currently very challenging to source electronics and semiconductors domestically, for example. The US just isn’t there yet with the completely domestic supply chain.
States and contractors have already spent years developing plans, lining up sites, coordinating with utilities, and ordering equipment in accordance with existing federal rules. When Trump’s folks decide to relitigate the basics again, it’s not “efficiency,” it’s a delay tactic. The only guaranteed output is more legal bills and more openings for fossil fuel politics to keep transportation stuck in the past.
If the goal were truly to boost domestic manufacturing, they would build it on stable policy and realistic phase-ins. But the real goal is to make NEVI so painful that states walk away in frustration.
Read more: Court rules feds cannot interfere with disbursement of EV charger funds
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