The transportation sector is the largest source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the United States, responsible for one third of all emissions. To address the growing climate crisis and meet the Biden-Harris Administration’s goal of a net-zero emissions economy by 2050, it is critical to decarbonize transportation by eliminating nearly all GHG emissions from the sector. A decarbonized transportation system can mobilize a sustainable economy that benefits everyone.

Electrifying the nation’s transportation sector requires bold action to ensure the necessary infrastructure is in place for Americans to be able to ride and drive electric vehicles (EV). According to a recent study from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, 1.2 million public charging stations will be needed to support 33 million light-duty vehicles by 2030.

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), has invested $7.5 billion to build a national EV charging network and created the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation (Joint Office) to study, plan, coordinate, and implement issues of joint concern between the U.S. DOT and Department of Energy.

One of the goals of BIL is to invest in EV charging infrastructure, and a large portion of BIL funding is dedicated to making EVs accessible to all Americans for both local and long-distance trips. The U.S. DOT Volpe Center supports the development of new EV charging infrastructure by providing expertise to the Joint Office and through support to FHWA.

Since the inception of BIL’s National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) formula program in 2022, the U.S. DOT Volpe Center has supported the Joint Office in working with federal, state, and local officials, as well as private industry, to plan and promote a national network of charging/fueling stations with a focus on filling gaps in rural, disadvantaged, and hard-to-reach locations.

This work expanded with BIL’s Charging and Fueling Infrastructure (CFI) competitive grant program launch in March 2023, and FHWA’s Electric Vehicle Charger Reliability and Accessibility Accelerator grant program in September 2023.

The U.S. DOT Volpe Center supports the Joint Office’s work related to the NEVI and CFI programs through strategic planning; program guidance development; state plan and proposal reviews/evaluations; stakeholder coordination, outreach, and resource development; technical assistance for state DOTs, communities, and tribal nations; program evaluations; and coordination efforts with Justice40 and labor and equity workforce initiatives. In addition, the U.S. DOT Volpe Center facilitates coordination between FHWA and the Joint Office.

During 2023 and 2024, the U.S. DOT Volpe Center provided dedicated staff support for the Technical Assistance Team, which focused on technical assistance to state DOTs and other key state agencies, for the implementation activities of NEVI. In addition, the Volpe Center developed and released Charging Forward: A Toolkit for Planning and Funding Urban Electric Mobility Infrastructure in August 2023. The toolkit serves as a one-stop resource to help urban communities scope, plan, and identify ways to fund EV charging infrastructure, and complements the Rural Electric Mobility Toolkit the U.S. DOT Volpe Center developed in 2022 and updated in 2023.

Other key U.S. DOT Volpe Center support related to this transformational initiative include:

• Participating in the reviews of the NEVI EV Infrastructure Deployment Plan updates for $885 million in fiscal year 2024 funding. U.S. DOT Volpe Center staff led review teams and consensus meetings which provided recommendations for approval to Joint Office and FHWA leadership;
• Providing technical and policy support for standing up the CFI Discretionary Grant Program and developing the CFI Notice of Funding Opportunity;
• Providing assistance in standing up the Electric Vehicle Working Group (EVWG) which consists of 25 stakeholders that will provide recommendations to the Secretaries of Energy and Transportation on the development, adoption, and integration of EVs into the energy and transportation systems of the U.S.;
• Developing a series of briefings for Joint Office leadership on various EV charging solutions for multifamily housing residents. U.S. DOT Volpe Center staff also developed public resources categorizing and summarizing different solution types;
• Developing and issuing a whitepaper on innovative mobility options for all types of communities, including renters and multifamily housing residents, entitled “Community Charging: Emerging Multifamily, Curbside, and Multimodal Practices” as part of Curbside EV Charging Strategies webinar; and
• Coordinating federal cybersecurity research to reduce NEVI cyber risks, including ongoing work on an incident reporting framework, cybersecurity assessment of standards, and also chaired an electric vehicles and charging infrastructure security working group and served as the Joint Office’s delegate to the Office of The National Cyber Director’s Senior Steering Group on Cybersecurity and the Clean Energy Transition.

These activities directly support the Biden Administration’s vision of creating a convenient, reliable, and Made-in-America EV charging network so the great American road trip can be electrified.

These steps will help the U.S. meet the Biden-Harris Administration’s ambitious goals to confront the climate crisis by building a national network of 500,000 EV chargers along America’s highways and in our communities. It is estimated that EV sales will make up at least 50 percent of new passenger car sales by 2030, which underscores the industrial strategy to boost domestic EV and EV charging production.

The path to net-zero emissions by 2050 will create good-paying manufacturing and installation jobs for the nation.

About the U.S. DOT Volpe Center

Celebrating more than 50 years of federal service to the nation, the U.S. DOT Volpe Center’s mission is to transform transportation for all.

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