The Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill (BIL) signed in November 2021 includes a total of up to $5 billion in dedicated funding for the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program, and $2.5 billion for a discretionary Charging and Fueling Infrastructure grant program. These two programs will advance the deployment of electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure throughout the country, with a goal of establishing a nationwide network of 500,000 EV chargers by 2030. The Commonwealth of Virginia is expected to receive approximately $100 million over 5 years under the NEVI program and is eligible to apply for additional funding under the $2.5 billion discretionary grant program.
Under the NEVI program, each state is required to submit an EV Infrastructure Deployment Plan. Virginia completed a draft Deployment Plan in August 2022. The Plan outlines how Virginia will prioritize the use of NEVI program funding for EV charging infrastructure along Alternative Fuel Corridors (AFCs) within the interstate highway system. All of Virginia’s charging stations identified are along the state’s interstate highway system.
The NEVI Program calls for states to initially focus on building public charging stations at least every 50 miles along interstate highways and within one mile of federally designated alternative fuel corridors.
As of September 2022, Virginia had 1,139 public charging stations with 3,301 ports across all charging speeds. With the new federal funding, the state is proposing to construct between 19 and 26 new stations along several interstates. The initial buildout of the new charging infrastructure is anticipated to occur during 2023 and 2024.
VDOT has determined that out of the existing network of 139 public charging stations with direct-current fast-charging capacity, only 17 may meet the national program’s criteria. The criteria include having at least four 150 kilowatt direct-current fast chargers that can operate simultaneously and having a minimum station power capacity at or above 600 kW.
View the Draft Plan here: August 2022 Draft Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Deployment Plan. Check back to SAWMPO.org for future statewide EV updates. The MPO will post the final Deployment Plan upon completion.
A September 21, 2022 article in the Virginia Mercury contributed to this summary.