National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program is a roaring success

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More than two years after President Joe Biden pledged to build 500,000 electric vehicle charging stations throughout the United States only seven are operational across four states.

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The Washington Post reported Friday on the sluggish pace the allocated $7.5 billion in infrastructure funds have been put to use.

The bulk of the funds, $5 billion, are to go toward building fast chargers along major interstates - what's being called the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure or NEVI program.
To satisfy the federal program's requirements, chargers must be built at least every 50 miles over major highway routes and be operational 97 percent of the time.

They also must take credit card payments and certain components must be made domestically.

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Additionally, states must submit proposals to the Biden administration for approval, solicit bids for construction and then can award the funds.

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So after the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law was passed in November 2021, only seven charging stations are operational.

They are in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Hawaii and New York and offer 38 spots for cars to charge.

Twelve additional states have been awarded contracts for construction to begin, while another 17 states haven't even submitted proposals.

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'I think a lot of people who are watching this are getting concerned about the timeline,' Alexander Laska, deputy director for transportation and innovation at the center-left think tank Third Way told The Post.

Nick Nigro, founder of Atlas Public Policy, told the newspape that some of the delays are to be expected.

'State transportation agencies are the recipients of the money,' he told The Post. 'Nearly all of them had no experience deploying electric vehicle charging stations before the law was enacted.'

'I expect it to go much faster in 2024,' Nigro added.

If Republicans take back full control of Congress and also the White House - some of these programs could see a backslide.

Biden's challenger, former President Donald Trump, has been openly antagonistic toward the Democrat's green agenda.

In mid-February at a campaign stop in the battleground state of Michigan, Trump said that Biden 'ordered a hit job on Michigan manufacturing' with mandates to move the American car industry away from gas guzzlers toward EVs.

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