The Trump administration has restored funding for electric vehicle chargers, potentially helping travelers in wide open spaces.
That’s after the administration froze the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program six months ago, but lost a legal battle with states, including Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico.
Now, states can resume work deploying stations, with some more flexibility around where stations go.
The $5 billion program used to require putting high-speed charging stations within 50 miles of each other on designated interstates and freeways. But that’s often not where tourists are driving to national parks or other hotspots, according to Alicia Cox, who leads Yellowstone-Teton Clean Cities.
“It's more of a vacation road trip that you're going on. You're not necessarily scooting through just on I-80,” said Cox, whose organization promotes sustainable transportation in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho.
She added that there’s often not even gas stations 50 miles apart in these states with vast stretches of open land.
“The 50-mile distance wasn't really aligning with the types of vehicles that folks in our region would be selecting anyway,” Cox said.
But now, with the relaunching of the program, the Trump administration has made it so states can determine how far apart it should put chargers along their designated routes and potentially expand charging to other popular areas.
Jordan Young, a Wyoming Department of Transportation spokesperson, said the state is excited about this extra flexibility. She said it has been vocal about some of the challenges the previous requirements posed for rural areas.
“One thing that we are looking at closely is, what mileage gap would make sense for Wyoming?” Young said.
Patrick Lawson owns a changing station company, WildWest EV, and plans to apply for some of the funds. His company has eight stations in Wyoming and one in New Mexico.
“It's kind of a chicken and the egg situation, especially for tourism,” said Lawson. “People won't come out this way if they have an electric vehicle 'cause they can't charge. And people don't wanna put charging stations in unless there's electric vehicles around.”
Lawson said federal money can help bridge the gap.
States now have until mid-September to submit their updated plans to the federal government. They’ll eventually put out a request for proposals and review bids from contractors like Lawson.
The rollout for the program, enacted in 2021, has been relatively slow nationwide. The EV States Clearinghouse database shows 91 stations currently open even though thousands have been funded. Lawson is hopeful, with fewer regulations, more stations will be in the ground soon.
“I think things could go really fast now,” he said.
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Colorado and KANW in New Mexico, with support from affiliate stations across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by CPB.
