The US Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) announced a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on proposed minimum standards and requirements for projects funded under the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program. These minimum standards should help ensure the national EV charging network is user-friendly, reliable, and accessible to all Americans, and interoperable between different charging companies, with similar payment systems, pricing information, charging speeds, and more.
The proposed rule would establish the groundwork for states to build federally-funded charging station projects across a national EV charging network, an important step towards making electric vehicle charging accessible to all Americans. No matter what kind of EV a user drives, what state they charge in, or what charging company they plug into, the minimum standards will ensure a unified network of chargers with similar payment systems, pricing information, charging speeds, and more. The standards also establish strong workforce requirements for installation, maintenance, and operations to increase the safety and reliability of charging station function and use, and create and support good-paying, highly-skilled jobs in communities across the country (such as Green Island EV in New York).
“To support the transition to electric vehicles, we must build a national charging network that makes finding a charge as easy as filling up at a gas station”. said US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. “These new ground rules will help create a network of EV chargers across the country that are convenient, affordable, reliable and accessible for all Americans.”
FHWA also released additional resources to help states successfully complete their deployment plans and access NEVI formula funding to build out the charging network. These resources include new NEVI formula program Questions and Answers and a new resource to help states, particularly rural states, evaluate the best locations for charging stations when it may not be possible to provide charging stations at the required 50-mile intervals.
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