The Senate’s fiscal 2026 funding bill for transportation programs would force the Department of Transportation to finish updating guidance for the $5 billion electric vehicle charger program that the White House suspended earlier this year.
The bill, which was approved 27-1, would direct DOT to issue updated draft guidance for the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Formula Program, known as NEVI, for public comment no later than 30 days after the legislation is enacted. DOT must then publish final guidance no more than four months after the bill becomes law.
Established by the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), NEVI was designed to provide funding to states for deploying EV charging infrastructure. Congress appropriated $5 billion for the program, distributed from FYs 2022 to 2026. In February 2025, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) issued a memo suspending NEVI funding and rescinded prior guidance for the program. In May 2025, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said the Transportation Department was refusing to spend money that had been authorized by Congress, otherwise known as impoundment.
The Department of Transportation has said since June that updated NEVI guidance is coming “within weeks.”
The retail fuel industry supports the NEVI Program and is actively participating in the program in almost every state. More than half of all EV charging stations under the NEVI grant program were set to be constructed at truck stops, travel centers, and other fuel retailers. NATSO continues to urge FHWA to better harmonize state application standards under the grant program to ensure that consumers’ charging experiences are consistent from state to state. Differing state approaches to the NEVI grant application process threatened to create a balkanized market with disparate, unpredictable consumer EV charging experiences between states.
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