Applications Open for $1.3 Billion in Funding to Expand National Electric Vehicle Charging Network – CleanTechnica

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The Biden-Harris Administration opened applications today for a historic $1.3 billion funding opportunity for electric vehicle (EV) charging and alternative-fueling infrastructure in urban and rural communities and along designated highways, interstates, and major roadways. This is the largest single grant funding opportunity for EV charging in the nation’s history and it will accelerate public and private investment in clean transportation in the places where people live, work, and play.

This funding opportunity is made possible by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s signature EV charging investments: the $2.5 billion Charging and Fueling Infrastructure (CFI) Discretionary Grant Program and funds from the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program that are set aside for strategic grants to states and local governments to deploy EV chargers. Supported by unifying guidance and technical assistance from the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation (Joint Office), the CFI program is administered by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and is open to state, regional, Tribal, and local government entities.

This funding opportunity is a critical pillar to the Administration’s charging strategy and addresses needs for charging at multi-family housing and destinations where vehicles are parked. CFI also allows applicants not eligible for NEVI to get needed funding, which is critical to ensuring federal dollars help disadvantaged communities join the EV revolution. The investments from CFI also help support zero-emission freight infrastructure, helping implement the National Zero-Emission Freight Strategy.

These efforts are helping deploy a network of convenient, reliable Level 2 and DC fast EV chargers across the country—along with the good paying jobs building and maintaining the network entails—to bring the unparalleled convenience, health benefits, and cost savings of EVs to every American community, a key step towards the President’s goals of building a national network of 500,000 public EV charging stations and halving national greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.

The previous round of CFI funding, released in January 2024, benefited 47 projects in 22 states and Puerto Rico, supporting construction of approximately 7,500 EV charging ports. Still, FHWA received applications for six times the amount of funding available. Today’s announcement reserves more than $520 million for some unselected first-round applicants who may be reconsidered for the current round of funding. FHWA will contact unselected round 1 applicants directly about this opportunity. Previous reliability funding awarded approximately $148.8 million in grant funding to 24 applicants to repair or replace broken or non-operational electric vehicle charging ports in 20 States and were awarded to 14 State Departments of Transportation and 10 local entities.

“By helping connect our nation’s communities and corridors, the Joint Office and FHWA are modernizing the nation’s infrastructure and creating new job and transportation opportunities,” said Joint Office Executive Director, Gabe Klein. “Doubling down on electrification is more important than ever to our economic prosperity and national security. With the rest of the world pushing down on the accelerator; we are moving fast to position the United States the global leader in the future that everyone is racing toward.”

The CFI Program is divided into two distinct grant funding categories and requires that 50% of the funding over five years is made available for both Communities and Corridors:

• Community Charging and Fueling Grants: This program will strategically deploy publicly accessible EV charging infrastructure and hydrogen, propane, and natural gas fueling infrastructure in urban and rural communities.
• Alternative Fuel Corridor Grants: This program will strategically deploy publicly accessible EV charging infrastructure and hydrogen, propane, and natural gas fueling infrastructure along designated AFCs.

A key difference for EV charging projects in this round of funding is that the maximum distance from an AFC has been increased from one mile to five miles to align with the maximum distance for other CFI-eligible fuels. Increasing the maximum distance for EV charging will help connect corridors to communities, increase flexibility for developers, help utilities incorporate new load into the grid, and accelerate deployment of charging infrastructure.

Eligible applicants include states, metropolitan planning organizations, local governments, port authorities, Indian Tribes, U.S. territories, and more. Projects for both categories are outlined in a Notice of Funding Opportunity published today. Applications are due in grants.gov by August 28, 2024. Previously unselected applicants will have the option to request via email by July 1, 2024 that FHWA reconsider previously submitted applications.

The Joint Office and FHWA will host two public webinars in the coming weeks to provide more detail on this funding announcement:

Visit FHWA’s CFI Discretionary Grant Program website to learn more. For more information on President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and investments in electric vehicles, please visit FHWA’s BIL web site.

CFI Application Resources:

Courtesy of Joint Office of Energy & Transportation.