A federal judge on Tuesday issued a ruling blocking the Trump administration from withholding funds for electric vehicle charger infrastructure from 14 states.
U.S. District Judge Tana Lin said the government overstepped their Constitutional authority by refusing to disperse dollars attached to the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act passed by former President Biden.
The initiative was created to help rid EV drivers of range anxiety, which is defined as the unease experienced by electric vehicle (“EV”) drivers when they are unsure where the next charging station might be and whether their car’s battery has sufficient charge to get them there.
“Congress appropriated $5 billion to fund a National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (“NEVI”) Formula Program, the purpose of which was—and still is— ‘to strategically deploy electric vehicle charging infrastructure and to establish an interconnected network to facilitate data collection, access, and reliability,’” Lim’s order.
However, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) suspended the program in February and rescinded approval of state plans pending a review, according to Reuters.
Under Lim’s order, EV infrastructure plans will be restored in Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Hawai‘i, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington and Wisconsin.
The ruling does not apply to Minnesota, the District of Columbia, and Vermont, which Lim said failed to prove immediate harm following the DOT decision.
The Trump administration now has seven days to appeal the order before it goes into effect.
“Another day, another liberal judicial activist making nonsensical rulings from the bench because they hate President Trump,” a DOT spokesperson said in a statement to The Hill.
“The Biden-Buttigieg NEVI program guidance was a disaster and failed miserably to deliver EV chargers. While we asses our legal options, the order does not stop our ongoing work to reform the program so it actually works for the American people, which continues apace.”
Updated: June 25 at 10:53 a.m.
