As 2025 approaches its last quarter, a look back at the electric vehicle (EV) market in the United States reveals an initially murky picture that is overshadowed by several recent developments boding well for EV market participants. Although the first several months of 2025 were littered with government actions that prompted some to predict the demise of the US EV market, more recent developments paint a different picture.
According to Cox Automotive, in July 2025, new EV sales had climbed 26.4% month over month and 19.7% year over year. A total of approximately 130,000 new EV monthly sales was the second highest on record. Likewise, used EV sales jumped 23% month over month and approximately 40% year over year.
In addition to sales data that forecasts opportunity for EV manufacturers, the US administration’s recent actions concerning federal funding opportunities presents a renewed opportunity for the developers, owners, and operators of public charging infrastructure. In a pivot from prior actions, the administration’s decision to reopen federal funding previously made available through a $5 billion program created in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) presents market participants with reason for optimism concerning the US EV market in the months and years to come.
Background of NEVI
The National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program (NEVI) is a product of the BIL, which Congress passed and President Biden enacted in 2021. Among other things, the BIL allocated billions of dollars of federal funding to spur the development of EV charging projects as part of a broader effort to supercharge EV adoption in the United States. Specifically, under the BIL, two programs allocated a combined $7.5 billion to build up a network of public EV chargers across the country: the $5 billion NEVI program and a $2.5 billion discretionary grant program.
Appropriation of the $5 billion of NEVI funding was designed to occur on a formulaic basis across the states. As envisioned in the BIL, the NEVI program was to allocate $1 billion of funding each year for a period of five years among the states based on the predetermined formulaic results. Under the BIL’s NEVI provisions, funding made available under the NEVI program was to be used for (1) the acquisition and installation of EV charging infrastructure; (2) proper operation and maintenance of EV charging infrastructure; and (3) data sharing about EV charging infrastructure.
Moreover, the BIL also specified that any NEVI funding made available to an eligible project was to be limited to no more than 80% of the project’s costs, while 20% of the project’s costs were to be borne by the private sector recipient.
Implementation of the NEVI program requires more than just the statutory text, however. Prior to the disbursement of any funding to states, which could then be made available to potential project sponsor funding recipients, each state was required to develop and submit a plan to the Federal Highway Administration (FHA) detailing how the states would award funding to grant applicants and how the state would evaluate such applications. Under the federal funding rules, those plans had to be submitted for review and approval by the FHA. Following review and approval of state plans, the states were then able to award grant opportunities to funding applicants.
In order to enable states to develop those plans and provide clarity on the way in which projects could demonstrate eligibility, the FHA issued initial program guidance in February 2022. Under that memorandum, state department of transportations (state DOTs) and potential funding recipients were able to assess how the FHA viewed funding eligibility, the types of considerations that would factor into whether a funding applicant may be a successful funding recipient, and the types of conditions that may attach to a project’s development and ongoing operation.
Overview of Administration Actions and Litigation
Immediately after the inauguration in January 2025, President Trump’s Unleashing American Energy executive order announced a pause in federal funding made available through the BIL (and the Inflation Reduction Act), including the funds appropriated for EV charging stations through the NEVI program. Shortly thereafter, in February 2025, the FHA issued a memorandum notifying state DOT directors that the NEVI program was placed under review and that, accordingly, “no new obligations may occur under the NEVI Formula Program”; the FHA did commit to honoring existing contracts, however.
Following the administration’s formal cessation of funding, which amounted to approximately $3 billion of funding that was not otherwise issued to award recipients, 16 states and the District of Columbia filed suit in May 2025, which prompted the US District Court for the Western District of Washington to issue a preliminary injunction lifting the administration’s funding freeze as applicable to the plaintiff states.
Revised Guidance
In response to the Western District of Washington’s June 2025 preliminary injunction, the US Department of Transportation (US DOT) issued new interim final guidance on August 11, 2025, which supersedes the February 2022 guidance that was instrumental in facilitating the issuance of funding awards under NEVI. In other words, the revised guidance amounts to a termination of the administration’s NEVI funding freeze because, when followed, the revised guidance will allow states to resume developing EV charging stations utilizing NEVI funding.
In comparison to prior guidance, the US DOT’s August 11 guidance is notably different. Generally speaking, the US DOT’s current guidance reflects a far more streamlined approach to NEVI funding eligibility that provides state DOTs with substantially more discretion in developing NEVI award plans than the discretion previously afforded under the Biden administration’s February 2022 guidance. While the existing US DOT guidance retained certain key NEVI program elements, such as requiring funding recipients to develop projects that include the installation of four charging ports with 150 kW capacity each, key differences between the prior and current guidance exist.
For example, state DOTs are required to submit updated NEVI plans to the US DOT for review and approval. However, the contents of those plans are notably different from prior requirements. Under the revised guidance, states are required to submit a NEVI plan that addresses the following:
- A description of how the state intends to use NEVI program funds for each fiscal year
- A Community Engagement Outcomes Report
- A description of physical and cybersecurity strategies
In addition, the US DOT’s current guidance eliminates several additional key components of the prior guidance. For example, the US DOT’s revised guidance:
- Eliminates the distance requirements that were previously in place for project funding recipients. While prior guidance required a distance of 50 miles to exist between charging stations, the new guidance affords states more discretion in selecting sites by eliminating the requirement.
- Encourages states to award NEVI funding to project sponsors that (1) are both the charging station operator as well as the site host; or (2) have a committed agreement with the site host to expedite project delivery—thereby reducing potential delay in project development that might otherwise arise due to the need for coordination between chargepoint operators (CPOs) and site hosts
- Provides states with more flexibility to determine when their system is built out allowing NEVI funds to be used on public roads statewide
Plans are required to be submitted on or before September 12, 2025. However, states may utilize a streamlined format for the plans through the use of state planning documents, statewide transportation improvement plans, or the resubmission of previously developed plans (so long as they comply with the existing guidance).
Takeaways for Market Participants
The US DOT’s issuance of revised guidance following the Western District of Washington’s June 2025 ruling reflects a marked departure from the US administration’s prior statements concerning the availability of NEVI funding. In turn, the revised guidance reflects a change in expectations and opportunities for EV CPOs and site hosts that considered NEVI funding to be unavailable following the January 2025 executive order. In light of this development, the US DOT’s guidance provides market participants new opportunities following consideration of several key takeaways.
First, the US DOT’s guidance and subsequent state plans are intended to facilitate quicker development of charging stations funding by the NEVI program. US Department of Treasury Secretary Sean Duffy said as much while unveiling the revised guidance, noting that “[o]ur revised NEVI guidance slashes red tape and makes it easier for states to efficiently build out this infrastructure.”
The guidance’s increased deference to state decisionmaking and elimination of certain prior considerations that were required before awarding funding are both indications that opportunities exist if projects can be developed efficiently and quickly.
Second, commercial and contractual relationships between CPOs and site hosts remain as important and vital to charging station development as ever. As noted above, the US DOT’s guidance explicitly encourages states to prioritize funding applicants that either serve as the CPO and site host or that have a committed agreement with the site host.
This encouragement likely reflects the US administration’s view that site host contractual negotiations and the absence of a standardized site host agreement have previously introduced material delay in the development of projects—or instances in which projects were not developed at all.
As market participants are undoubtedly aware, numerous nuances in EV charging station site host agreements warrant careful consideration, including nuances concerning site host payment structures, revenue sharing, indemnification, operation and maintenance responsibility, site access, and exclusivity.
Finally, new entrants to the CPO landscape as well as entities that already have project developments in operation should prepare for more funding opportunities than those that may have previously existed.
Given the more streamlined approach to awarding funding as well as the elimination of certain requirements from prior guidance, potential funding applicants that previously decided to forego funding applications are facing a renewed opportunity. Prior state plans required extensive and burdensome information to be included in applications that covered a variety of issues, in large part because prior US DOT guidance required plans to consider such issues.