17 US states sues against the federal government’s charging subsidy stop
The accusation made by the plaintiff states is that President Trump is unlawfully withholding billions of dollars that were approved by a bipartisan majority in Congress for charging infrastructure. The lawsuit asks the federal court to declare Trump’s directives unlawful, cancel the measures and permanently prevent the administration from withholding the funds.
A few weeks after Donald Trump took office as US President, the new administration suspended the allocation of new funding for charging infrastructure nationwide via a memo from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). The plans to implement the so-called NEVI programme (National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure) were thus to be discontinued, meaning that the federal states were not allowed to make any new commitments under the NEVI programme until new guidelines were issued.
The US government’s actions were already criticised in February, and there were doubts as to whether this approach was legally tenable. According to the announcement from California, the lawsuit, which Colorado and Washington support among others, challenges other points: “The lawsuit states that FHWA’s unlawful actions deprive the states of billions of dollars in appropriated funds, ignores Congressional mandates, violates the U.S. Constitution and will devastate the ability of states to build the charging infrastructure necessary for making EVs accessible to more consumers, combating climate change, reducing other harmful pollution, and supporting the states’ green economies,” it says. In addition, the 17 states in the lawsuit want the court to not only declare President Trump’s orders in question unlawful and rescind the measures – but to “permanently stop the administration from withholding the funds.”
“The facts don’t lie: the demand for clean transportation continues to rise, and California will be at the forefront of this transition to a more sustainable, low-emissions future. California will not back down, not from Big Oil, and not from federal overreach,” said California Attorney General Rob Bonta.
Governor Gavin Newsom is far more dramatic than his Attorney General. “When America retreats, China wins. President Trump’s illegal action withholding funds for electric vehicle infrastructure is yet another Trump gift to China – ceding American innovation and killing thousands of jobs,” Newsom said. “Instead of hawking Teslas on the White House lawn, President Trump could actually help Elon – and the nation – by following the law and releasing this bipartisan funding.”
California’s State Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Deployment Plan, approved by the federal government (under President Biden), calls for the construction of “hundreds of thousands of additional charging stations for electric vehicles (cars and trucks) and incrementally more charging stations for medium-duty and heavy-duty trucks and buses.” These charging stations are to be financed by public and private investment, as well as USD 384 million from the NEVI programme.
The Biden administration adopted the NEVI programme and allocated five billion dollars to promote the large-scale expansion of charging infrastructure throughout the USA. However, as part of the NEVI programme, the states have to submit their plans to the FHWA each year, setting out in considerable detail how they intend to use the funds.
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