Charging Toward Justice: How States Can Lead on Racial and Economic Equity through the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Program

The transportation sector emits more climate pollution than any other sector of the U.S. economy. Today, most of the country’s light duty passenger vehicles and heavy duty trucks run on fossil fuels, which, in addition to warming the planet, release pollutants that worsen air quality and threaten public health. To enable widespread adoption of clean, electric vehicles (EVs), the Biden Administration committed to build out a national, public EV charging network. The cornerstone of this effort is the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program (NEVI), which provides $5 billion to states to build charging stations within their borders. To ensure that the benefits of this program flow to disadvantaged communities (DACs), the NEVI program is covered by the President’s Justice40 Initiative, established by Executive Order 14008. Each state submitted a NEVI plan to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to unlock this federal funding and all plans were approved for the 2022 funding cycle. To help broaden the field of view as this critical network further develops in coming years, this report examines the development of NEVI plans, in relation to equity, across 27 states through two lenses: 1. An analysis of states’ NEVI plan development processes, specifically as it relates to public engagement, through interviews with stakeholders involved in state NEVI planning; and 2. An analysis of the approved state plans across 20 diverse states using equity indicators.