NEVI Update: New Minimum Standards Released Summer 2025
Posted by admin on Jun. 25, 2025 / Electric Vehicles / Subscribe 0
Background
The National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Program is a funding program from the Infrastructure Bill that allocated $5B for the development of a national network of electric vehicle DC Fast Chargers across the nation's Alternative Fuel Corridors, primarily interstates and major highways. States were allocated a portion of the funding according to the FHWA funding formula, and States are required to develop programs for spending that money based on guidance from the FHWA, referred to as the program's "Minimum Standards". Louisiana's Department of Transportation and Development opened the application period for the first round of NEVI funding in December of 2024, with the application period slated to close at the end of February 2025.
At the beginning of February 2025, at the turn of the new administration, the FHWA revoked approval for all States' EV Plans, which guided the individual State funding programs under NEVI. When the FHWA revoked that approval, the administration stated that they would be revising the Minimum Standards for the NEVI Program and would provide those new standards to States sometime later in the year. In recent news, it appears that a new round of Minimum Standards will be announced sometime this Summer.
Original Timeline of the NEVI rollout May Inform Update Timeline
Based on the process when the initial standards were announced, we can anticipate that the process of updating the federal standards will not be quick. When the first Minimum Standards were announced, they were announced in a draft form which were then put out for public comment, then a round of revisions by the FHWA. This process took over a year from the announcement of the Draft to the finalization of the standards. Once the Final Minimum Standards were announced, States needed to revise their State Plans to align with the Minimum Standards*. Then the States worked to develop their funding programs based on those Minimum Standards. Next, many States put the funding program details out for public review at the State level. In Louisiana, the public comment period was 60 days. Those comments were then incorporated into a final version of the grant program, which can also be a very lengthy process.
Rumors and Chatter Indicate that Wheels are Once Again Turning...
We don't know whether the FHWA will put its new Minimum Standards out for public comment before finalization, but we do anticipate that at least at the State level, Louisiana will want to put any changes in its grant program out for public comment before reopening the program. If the process at both the Federal and State level mirrors the process from the last time around, we can very ambitiously hope to see the NEVI program open up in Louisiana sometime in 2026.
In conclusion, all signs point to movement at the federal level, indicating that we could see new federal standards published in the coming months, with subsequent rounds of public comment periods and updates. Until then, please bookmark the LA DOTD's website and sign up for our newsletter to stay informed.
Recent articles on the topic:
*Some States decided to develop their programs and move forward with opening up their funding programs before the Minimum Standards were finalized, which ran the risk of requiring a major upheaval in the middle of the program being implemented. Louisiana decided not to risk it and are waiting for the updated standards to be finalized.
For more information, visit the DOTD NEVI website: https://dotd.la.gov/
0 Comments