Vermont is receiving millions of dollars in federal money for electric vehicle charging infrastructure that had been previously frozen by the Trump administration.
Gov. Phil Scott and the Agency of Transportation announced Thursday that the state has received $15.8 million to deploy this infrastructure in key areas across Vermont. The money, promised through the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program, had been frozen for months due to an executive order from President Donald Trump.
“This is great news and will bring more EV charging infrastructure to Vermont, which we desperately need,” Scott said in a statement. “Finding ways to work with our federal partners on issues like this one is important and will pay off for Vermonters.”
Earlier this year, Vermont Attorney General Charity Clark had joined other states in a lawsuit against the Trump Administration for freezing the funds. But a federal judge ruled in June that only some of those states could get their grant funds released, saying Vermont had failed to prove it would face "irreparable harm" if its funds remained frozen.
The Federal Highway Administration released new guidance for the program in August, and Vermont's funding was released shortly after the state edited and resubmitted its application.
"I was definitely pleased to hear the news," said Vermont Transportation Secretary Joe Flynn. "And I was also appreciative of the timeliness of the news in comparison to when we were informed that they had formulated the new guidance."
The released funding enables Vermont to proceed with constructing 50-60 charging ports at 11 fast-charging stations in key locations across the state. The sites include Randolph, Wilmington, Rutland, St. Albans, Bennington, Middlebury, White River Junction, Brattleboro, Berlin, Manchester and South Burlington.
Transportation officials initially expressed concerns that the funding would not be sufficient to complete all 11 sites due to the Trump administration's plan to require federal agencies to only fund projects using 100% American-made components, but Flynn said that will not be the case here.
Flynn told Vermont Public on Friday that all 11 sites will count under the current Buy America waiver, which stipulates that only 55% of components must be sourced as American-made. This means the agency should not have a problem fully delivering these projects with the recently released funds, he said.
The state's first NEVI charging station opened in Bradford in the spring of 2024.
The Agency of Transportation said it aims to continue bolstering the state's EV infrastructure for Vermonters and visitors who rely on the charging infrastructure.
