The NEVI Funds Are Finally Unfrozen, But The Administration’s Chaos Goes Unpunished

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In 2023–2024, I wrote a TON of articles about the NEVI program, or the money from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that was supposed to massively expand highway EV charging in the United States. Having at least one charging station every 50 miles (with some exceptions) was going to be a game changer.

But, in 2025, Trump decided to kill the program. However, there was just one problem: Congress had authorized the funds with a law. Under the U.S. Constitution, a president’s duty is to faithfully execute the laws. Simply deciding to steal that money and spend it on Kristi Noem’s wardrobe or something just isn’t lawful at all.

The federal government is finally being forced to play by the rules when it comes to electric vehicle infrastructure. In late January 2026, a federal judge officially put an end to the current administration’s illegal freeze on the $5 billion National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program. 

But, while the money is flowing again, the damage to our national charging network is already done, and the people responsible for the mess are walking away without a scratch.

The Chaos Trump Created Won’t Go Away As Easily

While winning in court is an important victory, the effects of that stolen funding year are going to be felt for a long time. You cannot just pause a massive nationwide construction project for a year and expect contractors to sit around waiting. When the freeze hit, states had open solicitations and conditional contracts ready to go. The prolonged legal limbo forced vendors to abandon those bids. Prices changed, people needed to make a living, and life had to go on.

Now, states are being forced to completely reset their procurement pipelines. Right here in my home state of New Mexico, the Department of Transportation had to rush a Phase Three Call for Projects at the end of 2025 just to try and capture the anticipated unfrozen funds. Over in Arizona, the Department of Transportation recently closed new bids but does not expect actual construction on those 31 new charging locations to begin until 2027. The Illinois Department of Transportation and the Minnesota Department of Transportation are going through the exact same painful process of launching new funding rounds and requests for information just to get contractors back to the table.

State officials are obviously relieved to have the legal green light. Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson rightly pointed out that the federal government cannot simply pause a program Congress explicitly authorized and funded. But relief does not buy back the lost time.

No Consequences For Breaking The Law

The most frustrating part of this entire ordeal is the absolute lack of consequences for the administration that caused the chaos. The Government Accountability Office determined back in May 2025 that withholding these congressionally appropriated funds was illegal. A federal judge agreed and told them to stop. Yet, the only legal remedy our system has is to order the executive branch to finally release the money.

There are no fines. There are no penalties for the politicians who orchestrated this delay. They successfully stalled a major national infrastructure rollout for a year, forcing state governments and private contractors to burn millions of dollars in administrative costs and legal fees. 

They achieved their exact goal of causing immense disruption to the EV transition, and they get to just walk away. 

Again, I’m glad to see the court force them to do the right thing, but without some real consequences for the lawbreaking, there’s nothing to stop them from doing it again in the future. 

Featured image by Jennifer Sensiba.