“There is no legal basis for funds that are divided to states to build projects that are 'detertified' on the basis of policy,” says Andrew Rogers, a former deputy manager and chief advisor of the Federal Highway Administration.
The American dot did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
It is unclear how the order of the DOT on charging stations will influence that are under construction. In the letter, FHWA officials write that “no new obligations may take place”, which suggests that states may not sign new contracts with companies, even if those states have granted federal financing. The letter also says that “reimbursement of existing obligations will be permitted”, since the program goes through an assessment process, which suggests that states may pay back companies that have already provided services.
Billions of federal financing have already been pronounced in the context of the program. Money went to both red and blue states. Top financing recipients Last year were Florida, New York, Texas, Georgia and Ohio.
In recent weeks, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has spent the head of the federal so -called Ministry of Government Efficiency with leading “audits” and cutbacks on federal expenditures. But his electric car company is a recipient of $ 31 million in prices from the NEVI program, according to a database that is maintained by transport officials, accounting for 6 percent of the money granted so far.
The Trump administration has said that it is planning to focus on electric vehicles and EV-related programs. An executive order signed by Trump on his first day in the office claimed to eliminate 'the EV mandate', although such a federal policy never existed.
NEVI projects have taken longer to get off the ground than the construction of the other charging station because the federal government was intentionally in assigning financing to companies with track records, who can prove that they could build or operate charging stations, says Ryan McKinnon, says A spokesperson for the Vooruit partnership, a group of companies and organizations that work in charging electric vehicles. If NEVI finance is not paid, “the companies that have spent time or money in this program will be injured,” he says.
This story originally appeared on Wired.com.
