Biden Administration Invests $150M To Upgrade 4,500 EV Charging Stations Nationwide

The Biden-Harris administration on Thursday pledged nearly $150 million to revamp roughly 4,500 public electric vehicle (EV) charging outlets across 20 states.

What Happened: The administration will distribute the funding among 24 grant recipients to enhance the reliability of the current EV charging infrastructure. The grant will be utilized to bring nearly 4,500 EV charging outlets up to code, repair, or replace them.

The initiative falls in line with President Joe Biden’s goal of establishing at least 500,000 operational public EV chargers by 2030.

“The EV revolution is here. To make the most of it we must ensure that everyone, from the largest cities to the most rural communities, has access to reliable EV charging infrastructure,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said.

This grant is part of Biden's Investing in America agenda and is drawn from the $5 billion National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program aimed at helping states build out EV charging.

“Increasing reliable access to EV charging is key to increasing EV adoption,” US DOT Deputy Secretary Polly Trottenberg said. Biden seeks to have EVs or plug-in hybrids account for 50% of new vehicle sales by 2030.

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Why It Matters: The grant awardees include 14 state departments of transportation and 10 local entities. The highest amount of about $64 million was received by the California Department of Transportation, likely due to the high EV adoption in the state. The New York Department of Transportation received $13 million and the Washington Department of Transportation $10 million.

U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer M. Granholm said earlier this month that more than 1.4 million electric vehicles were sold in the United States in 2023. As per the White House, EV sales have more than quadrupled since President Biden took office. Public chargers also witnessed a 75% jump since Biden with the U.S. presently having nearly 170,000 public EV chargers.

Photo Courtesy: buffaloboy on Shutterstock.com

Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of Benzinga Neuro and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.

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