LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – A lot of funding changes are happening rapidly at the federal level since President Donald Trump took office less than a month ago. That includes the suspension of a national program to help build out America’s EV charger network. Nevada was supposed to get $38 million under the National Electrical Vehicle (NEVI) Program but didn’t give out any of that grant money to business owners as other states already did and now that money is off the table.
“Usually, there will be like a lot of cars waiting. Sometimes people see people are not in their cars, they’ll go and try to pull their plug out,” explained Ivy White while waiting to charge up her car at an EV charger station in Henderson.
“You have to get up extra early just to be able to get to the charger before other people do,” shared another driver who did not want to appear on camera. There is such a need for more chargers in Nevada, people have gotten into fights over them.
“I’ve been here where they had to call the cops one time because two couples got into it,” White recounted. White says she sometime tries to come in the middle of the night to avoid waiting for other drivers to charge up.
“What’s the longest that you’ve waited for a charger?,” FOX5’s Kim Passoth questioned.
“Give or take about like two hours,” White responded. In November 2021, the Biden Administration allocated $5 billion for the NEVI Program. Each state was allocated a cut of the money to provide grants to small businesses that wanted to get into the business of EV charging especially in rural areas off interstates and highways.
Ryan McKinnon with EV advocacy group Charge Ahead Partnership says the current number of charging stations is not enough to serve EV drivers across the country and especially in Nevada. McKinnon claims Nevada dragged their feet giving out the NEVI grant money putting the state even further behind when it comes to the number of EV chargers.
“Nevada has had a really problematic approach towards NEVI this entire time. Right now, you have lots of states all over the country, have a lot of Nevada’s neighbors that have already opened up NEVI funded charging stations…The way other states did it, they set up an application process giving a gas station on the corner or off an interstate exit and you wanted to get into this marketplace, you can apply for funds. You can get a grant,” McKinnon stated.
“That’s lousy. That’s very lousy…Like if I try to go up north, it’s even more like sparse,” White contended hearing millions of federal dollars that could have been used to build charges in Nevada is now suspended.
FOX5 reached out to the Nevada Department of Transporation who was in charge of distributing the $38 million in federal grant money in Nevada before the NEVI Program was suspended. They shared this statement:
The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has apportioned funds for Nevada under the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program, but these funds operate as reimbursements, meaning they are not distributed upfront. While some states opted to distribute NEVI funds as grants to EV manufacturers, Nevada chose a Request for Proposal (RFP) process to ensure a transparent, competitive approach aligned with the state’s infrastructure priorities. Nevada had a Request for Proposals ready to be released when the federal government paused the program, placing the process on hold pending further federal guidance.
Nevada also faced unique challenges in rolling out NEVI funds, particularly in rural areas where sufficient energy capacity is not readily available to support new EV chargers. Throughout this process, NDOT has prioritized responsible stewardship of public funds, ensuring compliance with evolving federal guidance while working to maximize the program’s long-term impact.
The NEVI program has specific power and connectivity requirements, which required careful coordination with stakeholders, including NV Energy, to ensure proposed charging locations met federal standards. NDOT explored multiple pathways to deploy NEVI funds before finalizing the RFP, balancing the need for speed with the responsibility to ensure projects would be eligible for reimbursement.
About five percent of all vehicles in Nevada are electric ranking the state as eighth in highest percentage of EV’s on the road. However, there are only about four charging stations per 100 EV’s ranking Nevada 43rd for EV chargers.
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