 Awards Announcement
 The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) announced $635 million in Charging and Fueling Infrastructure Program grants to continue building out electric vehicle (EV) charging and alternative fueling infrastructure.
The funding will help expand zero-emission charging and refueling infrastructure across American communities and corridors with awards divided accordingly:
- $368 million of the investment will be allocated for 42 “community” projects that expand EV charging infrastructure within communities across the country.
- $268 million will go towards seven “corridor” fast-charging projects that build out the national charging and alternative-fueling network along designated Alternative Fuel Corridors.
Together, these programs have spurred private investments in growing the nation’s EV charging network and are actively deploying chargers across the country, in urban and rural areas, ensuring more drivers can charge their EVs wherever they live or travel.
Learn more.
New Resource From the Joint Office
Idaho National Laboratory and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have published a new report with solutions to accelerate timelines for EV charging load service requests across the country, incorporating expertise from the Joint Office, Office of Electricity, and Vehicle Technologies Office. From automating tools to using power control systems, the approaches proposed in the paper can help accelerate progress on EV charging infrastructure buildout for National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program, Charging and Fueling Infrastructure (CFI) Discretionary Grant Program, and other EV charging programs. Strategies range from right-sizing distribution components to employing power control systems and include:
- Increase data access and transparency
- Improve energization processes and timing
- Promote economic efficiency
- Improve grid reliability and resilience
For more, read the whitepaper.
Joint Office Headlines
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Interconnection Innovation e-Xchange (i2X) program recently announced ten projects to receive $2.1M through the i2X Innovative Queue Management Solutions (iQMS) for Clean Energy Interconnection and Energization program. The Joint Office will fund three projects in Track 2 of the iQMS program designed to address data tools and transparency for information related to Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment (EVSE) load service requests. These projects will advance EVSE load service requests across diverse service territory and share lessons learned among the utility community to improve energization processes more broadly.
The Joint Office is thrilled to announce the opening of the first three EV charging stations in Wisconsin to leverage NEVI funding paired with private investment. The stations are strategically located in rural communities that see frequent travel due to tourism and their location along key highway corridors.
Since the last quarterly progress update, an additional 12,000 public charging ports have come online, for a total of nearly 204,000 ports in our national charging network—double the number of public chargers since the end of 2020, opening up new roads to EV drivers. You can track progress by checking out our interactive chart, showcasing EV charging infrastructure growth.
- Plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) include both battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), and sales continue to grow.
- As of the end of November, a total of 1,412,298 PEVs have been sold in 2024. EV sales this year continue to outperform last year’s EV sales.
- EV sales growth has also kept pace with overall light-duty sales growth.
The National Vehicle Itinerary Generator (NAVIGAT) is a powerful simulation model developed by Lawrence Berkeley National Lab that simulates vehicle travel patterns across the U.S., at a granular, census-tract level. This tool is essential for understanding the impacts of EVs on emissions, air quality, and community health, helping policymakers make informed decisions about infrastructure and environmental strategies. Read the full report.
The newly published Recommendations of the Electric Vehicle Working Group are now available to help advance EV and charging related efforts. These recommendations are the culmination of public input, subcommittee meetings, and expert deliberation, and include public communications plans, grid integration efforts, and research and development recommendations. For more details, read the full recommendations.
Technical Assistance Opportunity
The Clean Bus Planning Awards (CBPA) program is open and accepting applications from school and transit bus fleets – act now to secure your spot before resources run out!
CBPA recipients receive free assistance to help create customized bus electrification transition plans. Fleets eligible for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Clean School Bus and Federal Transit Administration Low-No funding programs are generally eligible to apply.
- Sets a vision for deployment, helping to rally unified support from decision makers, stakeholders, and constituents.
- Coordinates internal and external project teams, reducing bandwidth burden on overloaded pupil transportation directors and transit fleet managers.
- Establishes realistic short-term and long-term targets, supported by sound technical analysis.
- Serves as a foundation and reference point for day-to-day operations and subsequent deployment efforts.
Resources are limited – act now and submit your application on the CBPA program website. Questions may be directed to cbpa@nrel.gov.
Other News
In Case You Missed It 📣
Weren’t able to join the J3400 State of the Market: Getting Ready for MY25 Vehicles? No problem—just watch the recording on our site!
DOE announced seven transportation plans to build a more resilient, affordable, and globally competitive transportation system. The action plans—covering key modes of the transportation sector including maritime, rail, trucking, aviation, and off-road—were developed in partnership with the U.S. Department of Transportation, the EPA, and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), along with industry and other stakeholders.
We are proud to have made DOE’s top clean energy accomplishments for the year for our efforts in Advancing Public-Private Efforts to Fill Critical Gaps in the National EV Charging Network. Key Federal programs supported by the Joint Office have spurred private sector investment to grow our national EV charging network to more than 205,000 public EV chargers—with nearly 1,000 new public chargers turned on every week. Thanks to the NEVI program and $2.5 billion CFI program, in 2024, there were 259 federally funded public charging ports operational across 15 states, and projects for 24,800 federally funded charging ports underway across the country.
This cybersecurity fact sheet from the White House introduces its Energy Modernization Cybersecurity Implementation Plan. This includes contributions from the Joint Office and its Electric Vehicle Working Group, such as transitioning findings from previously completed field testing into a portable test kit so EVSE stakeholders can rapidly evaluate the cybersecurity posture of EVSE and EV charging infrastructure based on a cultivated hardware/software platform and testing methodology.
Funding Opportunities
The Biden-Harris Administration, through DOE, has announced up to $30 million to accelerate the interconnection process for new energy generation through the introduction of artificial intelligence techniques. The new Artificial Intelligence for Interconnection (AI4IX) program will develop partnerships between software developers, grid operators [including Regional Transmission Operators (RTOs) and Power Marketing Administrations], and energy project developers to modernize the interconnection application process and significantly reduce the time required to review, approve, and commission new generation interconnections across the country.
Applications for the first round of AI4IX funding are due by Jan. 10, 2025, by 1:00 pm ET.
Thanks to Atlas Public Policy for their partnership in launching the NEVI Awards Dashboard and recognition of the milestone in their year in review: “Launching the NEVI Awards Dashboard in partnership with NASEO, AASHTO, and the Joint Office felt particularly momentous. Tracking state awards in one place highlights the progress that states are making in implementing this program and building out a reliable, affordable, equitable national EV charging network. NEVI has been such an important and talked-about program over the past couple of years and this new dashboard lets everyone follow this progress and find charging opportunities as more and more NEVI-funded stations come online.”
Join Us: Upcoming Events
See all upcoming events at driveelectric.gov/events.
SAE International’s 2025 Government/Industry Meeting
Jan. 28-30, 2025, Washington, D.C.
The Joint Office leadership will attend this SAE International event and participate in two sessions:
Acting Chief Technology Officer Sarah Hipel will speak on the “Expanding the U.S EV Charging Network” panel on Jan. 30, 2025. Learn more.
Cybersecurity lead Brendan Harris will speak on the “EV Charging Cybersecurity, the Equipment, the Car and the Infrastructure” panel on Jan. 28 as part of the SAE/NHTSA CyberSecurity Workshop. Learn more.
EV Working Group Quarterly Meeting
Jan. 30, 2025, 3–5 p.m. ET, virtual
The Electric Vehicle Working Group (EVWG) has periodic meetings regarding the development, adoption, and integration of electric vehicles into the U.S. transportation and energy systems. Learn more and register.
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