Charging infrastructure: USA releases $1.3 billion from CFI program

The budget for the new round is more than half of the $2.5 billion in funding known as the Charging and Fueling Infrastructure (CFI) Discretionary Grant Program. The project primarily aims to develop infrastructure for alternative vehicles in cities and rural areas.

The CFI program is in addition to the $5 billion National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula program, for which final requirements were established in February 2023. Charging stations built under the CFI program must meet the same requirements as previously announced by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA).

While the NEVI program focuses on fast charging stations on highways, the CFI program focuses on building charging stations and alternative fuel infrastructure (hydrogen and gas) in cities and rural areas, especially in disadvantaged and disadvantaged communities.

The CFI program's total budget of $2.5 billion is divided equally into two main areas: The “Community Program” grants subsidies for charging stations, hydrogen, propane or natural gas tank infrastructure in communities that arise on public or semi-public land. The “corridor program” promotes charging stations, hydrogen, propane or natural gas refueling infrastructure along “designated corridors for alternative fuels.”

Both CFI and NEVI were created as part of US President Joe Biden's bipartisan infrastructure legislation. They are critical to building a convenient, affordable, reliable, American-made national network of electric vehicle charging stations that includes at least 500,000 publicly accessible charging stations by 2030. The FHWA recently announced that

The first $700 million (€655 million) of the CFI program for fiscal years 2022 and 2023 was released in March 2023. In January 2024, the Biden administration announced a second tranche of $623 million to be distributed to 47 programs in 22 states and Puerto Rico. This has enabled the construction of around 7,500 charging stations.

“Yet FHWA received applications for six times the amount of funding available,” says a new announcement about the January funding round. “Today's announcement allocates more than $520 million to certain unselected first-round applicants who may be reconsidered for the current round of funding.”

By connecting the nation's communities and corridors, the Joint Office and FHWA are modernizing the nation's infrastructure and creating new jobs and transportation options, said Gabe Klein, executive director of the Joint Office. “Dual electrification is more important than ever to our economic prosperity and national security. As the rest of the world presses the accelerator, we move quickly to position America as a global leader for the future toward which everyone is moving.

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