The Biden administration announced $100 million in Federal funding will be allocated to repair and replace existing but non-operational electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure. 

Applications for the Electric Vehicle Charger Reliability and Accessibility Accelerator program are now open and are set to close by November 13, 2023. Eligible applicants and projects are outlined here. 

“Thanks to President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, we are building up a national EV charging network with chargers Made in the U.S.A.,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm in a press release. “Today’s investment is a pivotal step toward revitalizing our current charging infrastructure making EV driving cheaper, more reliable, and more convenient.”

Eligible projects include both publicly and privately owned chargers as long as they are available to the public without restriction.

“Charging your electric vehicle should be as easy and convenient as filling up a gas tank – and this investment will make our EV charging network more reliable, full stop,” said Federal Highway Administrator Shailen Bhatt. “We’re building a bigger EV charging network to keep up with driver demand, and we’re also going to make sure the currently available network is working when you need a charge.”

The program is informed by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Alternative Fuels Data Center (AFDC) Station Locator, which identifies offline stations as temporarily unavailable. A charger can be identified as temporarily unavailable for several reasons, ranging from routine maintenance to power issues. On September 11, 2023, the AFDC indicated that out of 151,506 public charging ports, 6,261 (4.1 percent) were temporarily unavailable.