State sues federal agencies over EV charger network

Administration refuses to approve money for grant programs passed by Congress, suit says.

- BY HAYLEY SMITH

A MOTORIST uses a Tesla Supercharger station in July in Hawthorne. President Trump ended federal tax credits for electric vehicles.

California has filed its 50th lawsuit against the Trump administration this year — this time over the suspension of federal funding for electric vehicle charging infrastructure, state officials announced Tuesday.

The U.S. Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration allegedly have refused to approve any new funding for two grant programs created under President Biden, the Charging and Fueling Infrastructure program and the Electric Vehicle Charger Reliability and Accessibility Accelerator program, since this spring, according to the lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington state. The programs were intended to build, repair and maintain electric vehicle chargers.

The U.S. EV charging network continues to expand. California has more than 201,000 public EV charging ports, compared with about 120,000 gasoline nozzles statewide, according to state data. But to address climate change, it needs more.

The lawsuit says the Trump administration's actions violate the constitutional separation of powers because the funding was approved by bipartisan majorities in Congress. It asks the court to declare the administration’s actions unlawful and order it to resume processing the funds, which amount to about $3 billion.