Indiana’s effort to develop electric vehicle charging stations along the state’s major highways has been put on hold as the U.S. Department of Transportation reviews the requirements for states to receive funding from the five-year, $5 billion National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure grant program that funds state EV projects.
The Indiana Department of Transportation was to receive $100 million for its Charging the Crossroads initiative, which last year chose the first 39 sites for charging stations, including five in Northwest Indiana.
But the Federal Highway Administration informed state transportation commissioners on Feb. 6 that the NEVI program was being suspended, pending review of its priorities.
That pushed the pause button on INDOT's program, which was engaged in negotiations to begin the project this year.
“Prior to the program’s pause, Indiana was in the final stages of contract execution on its first round of NEVI awards, which includes nearly 40 locations across the state’s Alternative Fuel Corridors (AFCs),” INDOT said in response to an inquiry about the project’s current status. “Because no Round 1 award contracts were fully executed at the time of the pause, no federal award funds had been obligated. INDOT is currently awaiting further federal guidance regarding the future of the program.”
Charging the Crossroads was being developed as a public-private partnership program. For the first round, Northwest Indiana charging station sites, their grant applicants and proposed hosts included:
• Interstate 80, exit 6; NIPSCO; Hard Rock Casino, 5400 W. 29th Ave., Gary
• Interstate 65, exit 253; NIPSCO; Meijer, 611 W. Lincoln Highway, Merrillville
• Interstate 80, exit 15B; Pilot; 1401 Ripley St., Lake Station
• Interstate 94, exit 34; Love’s Travel Stops; U.S. 241 Michigan City
• Interstate 80, exit 56 WB; Tesla; Indiana Toll Road, 7 N. Wilbur Shaw Plaza, Rolling Prairie
As part of the federal NEVI program, charging stations must be installed every 50 miles along a state’s AFCs, within one mile of an intersection or interchange. Indiana’s AFCs include its interstate highways and 10 state and U.S. highways.
NEVI funding was designated to cover up to 80% of the cost of installation of EV charging stations and up to five years of operations and maintenance funding.
Program suspension
The NEVI program, FHWA wrote in its Feb. 6 letter to the state transportation departments, was being put on hold because “new leadership … has decided to review the policies underlying the implementation of the NEVI Formula Program.”
NEVI was created as a formula-based program — each state’s allocation of funds is determined by a set formula. While most formula programs have specific dates by which DOT must release funds, NEVI was set up so that funding is available only if a state has DOT approval of its EV infrastructure deployment plan, according to the department’s Feb. 6 letter.
And that letter revoked approval of state deployment plans “for all fiscal years” of NEVI’s duration, essentially hitting pause on the entire program beyond any funds that have already been obligated by contract.
In addition to revoking approval of state plans, the Feb. 6 order rescinds the DOT guidance used by states to create their plans.
“Therefore, effective immediately, no new obligations may occur under the NEVI Formula Program until the updated final NEVI Formula Program Guidance is issued and new State plans are submitted and approved,” the FHWA letter states.
‘Sound Economic Analysis’
The new federal guidance will need to conform to an order from Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy entitled “Ensuring Reliance Upon Sound Economic Analysis in Department of Transportation Policies, Programs, and Activities.”
The document enunciates several goals. Among them, it:
• calls for “rigorous cost-benefit requirements and data-driven decisions”
• takes aim at “social cost of carbon” metrics as being “marked by logical deficiencies, a poor basis in empirical science, politicization, and the absence of a foundation in legislation”
• orders preference be given to communities with marriage and birth rates higher than the national average
• prohibits DOT funding recipients from “imposing vaccine and mask mandates”
• requires cooperation by states receiving funding with federal immigration enforcement.
It also says DOT funds should not be used “to further local political objectives … unrelated to a proper Federal interest,” and gives priority to projects that include user-pay models and are located in designated opportunity zones, among other goals.
The FHWA said it plans to make new guidance available for public comment this spring. After that is approved, it will be available for states to use to create new deployment plans.