The US Transportation Department is investing $148.8 million for repairing or updating nearly 4,500 electric vehicle charging ports in some 20 states.
This new set of funds offers 24 recipients in 20 states grants to upgrade, replace, or repair existing EV charging infrastructure, and relieve some of the common frustrations drivers have when rolling up to an out-of-service charging port. Biden has the goal of bringing at least 500,000 public EV chargers online by the end of the decade – and that includes fast chargers no more than 50 miles apart on major highways and interstates.
The new funds are part of the $5 billion National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program, which is funded by a $1 trillion 2021 infrastructure law. Under the program, “states need to operate federally-funded charging ports for at least five years, which must work 97% of the time,” Reuters reports.
