President Joe Biden has been boasting about his program to create 500,000 electric vehicle (EV) chargers throughout the United States, but less than ten appear to have actually been built according to available information.
In November 2021, the White House announced legislation to invest $7.5 billion in government funds to create a national network of EV charging stations, noting that it would help Biden reach his goal of building at least 500,000 chargers. This initiative, known as the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program, was part of the bill that became known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. This was enacted as part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which authorized a total of $108 billion for public transportation.
However, despite nearly four years of promises from Biden and two and half years elapsing since the $7.5 billion was allocated to the program, only four stations have been built.
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Ohio created the first NEVI-funded charging station in December 2023, equipped with two chargers. Governor Mike DeWine promised the state will be creating “two dozen fast charging stations” with the federally allocated $140 million and said they will be “operational” by the end of 2024.
Using its $175 million from Biden’s federal funds, the state of New York created a single station with four chargers, which was loudly celebrated by New York Governor Kathy Hochul, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Energy Secretary Jennifer M. Granholm, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
As of January 2024, Pennsylvania also reportedly had an operational station near the Scranton Airport, with four chargers.
Another six states have awarded contracts for charging sites, but no construction had begun as of December. Fifteen states as well as Puerto Rico were said to be in the process of hunting for construction bids.
The ones that have been built are reportedly not in the best shape. According to reporters with GreenBiz, the New York charging station with its total of four chargers had two malfunctioning credit card readers that could only be operated with an app, one had an unusable screen that was completely black, and the fourth station was completely broken.
This has not stopped Biden from loudly proclaiming that he is creating a “charging network” and creating tens of thousands of jobs in the process.
“I am cutting our carbon emissions in half by 2030, creating tens of thousands of clean-energy jobs, like the IBEW workers building and installing 500,000 electric vehicle charging stations,” Biden said during his State of the Union address. The crowd resounded with applause, with several members of Congress including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer rising from their seats.
According to a POLITICO article from December, the states blame a “labyrinth of new contracting and performance requirements” preventing them from receiving the federal dollars. Officials with the federal government are said to have earmarked over $2 billion for the states, but less than half have started the process of reviewing contractor bids, which means construction is years down the road, at least.
“It has been frustrating to say the least,” said founder and CEO of charging manufacturer FreeWire Technologies Arcady Sosinov regarding the pace of the project.
In total, the country has about 180,000 chargers, according to the Department of Energy. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory found that the United States will need 1.2 million chargers by 2030 to meet the demand.
Special thanks to VT.com reader Tara for contributing research to this post.
Shane Devine is a writer covering politics, economics, and culture for Valuetainment. Follow Shane on X (Twitter).
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