The Federal Highway Administration just approved all 50 state plans, in addition to Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico, to build EV charging stations along America’s approximately 53,000-mile interstate highway network as part of the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) formula program, which will release a total of $1.5 billion of funding over the next two fiscal years.

NEVI is a portion of the larger $5 billion EV provision in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law of 2021 and will establish much-needed charging stations per every 50-mile stretch of the system, making them (almost) as easy to find as gas stations for the first time since debuting on the American market, according to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

“Thanks to the commitment of state leaders who worked hard to develop EV charging networks that work for their residents, we were able to approve these state charging plans quickly and ahead of schedule,” Acting Federal Highway Administrator Stephanie Pollack said in a statement. “We are reviewing the remaining plans and on track to finish the process by our target date of September 30, if not sooner. Our shared work to bring President Biden’s vision for a national electric vehicle network to communities across America is too important to wait.”

Per Construction Drive, some salient points of the funding include projects in the Bronx's Hunts Point Terminal Produce Market and a 68-mile stretch of Maine’s historic U.S. Route 1. The FHWA has also proposed a Buy America waiver that will allow an expedited ramp-up period for the domestic manufacturing of EV charging equipment and says that a total of $7 billion in funding for an end-to-end supply chain of domestic EV battery manufacturing has been available through the Department of Energy to date.

An additional $2.5 billion Discretionary Grant Program for Charging and Fueling Infrastructure has been announced to “ensure charger deployment meets the Biden-Harris Administration priorities.” This should provide a significant boost to the nation's diffuse current stock of about 6,000 stations. More information about the new program can be found here.