On Friday, January 23, a federal judge ruled that the Trump administration unlawfully suspended funding awarded to support the expansion of the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program, reported CNBC.
“U.S. District Judge Tana Lin in Seattle ruled in favor of 20 states as well as the District of Columbia (D.C.), which had filed their lawsuit after the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) in February suspended an EV charger infrastructure program enacted by Congress in 2021 under Democratic President Joe Biden,” the outlet wrote.
Lin said the DOT and the Federal Highway Administration “yanked the NEVI Formula Program’s cord out of the outlet,” without working within the statutory confines of established administrative law as required.
Lin’s order permanently bars the Transportation Department from taking away the states’ funds or canceling their previously approved implementation plans, according to the report.
Shortly after Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy took office in February, the DOT suspended the $5 billion NEVI Formula Program, which was part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that Biden signed into law in 2021.
States led by California, Colorado and Washington sued in 2025, alleging the Trump administration was “wrongly withholding billions of dollars they were previously awarded.”
The administration argued it was a temporary pause, which it later ended after Judge Lin earlier issued a preliminary injunction and the agency issued new guidance.
In February 2025 when the funding was initially frozen, NACS sent a letter to Members of Congress noting that NACS’ members expended significant time and resources relying on the established NEVI frameworks.
"Regardless of the future of NEVI overall, these businesses acted in good faith under the law as it then existed, and Congress should at least make provisions to keep them whole,” NACS argued in the letter.
Media outlets reported last week that the U.S. Senate is slated this week to consider legislation that has already cleared the U.S. House of Representatives that would redirect $879 million in funds approved under Biden for the EV charging network to other infrastructure priorities.