Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear has joined other Democratic governors and attorneys general in an ongoing lawsuit seeking to unfreeze billions in federal funds allocated to building a nationwide network of chargers for electric vehicles.
The Trump administration targeted $5 billion for the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program on Inauguration Day this year and froze the funds weeks later. A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction in June ordering the administration to start distributing the funds to 14 states that had brought a lawsuit against the administration.
In early August, Beshear, along with other new plaintiffs including Democratic Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, joined the pending lawsuit. The amended complaint filed Aug. 1 states Kentucky was allocated $55 million over fiscal years 2022 through 2025 through the program, and the state has been “immediately and indefinitely deprived of access” to about $ 18 million of that.
“Electric and hybrid vehicles are no longer the technology of the future. They’re here now, and this technology is only becoming more important to our families and businesses,” Beshear said in a statement. “The NEVI program provides critical funding that is helping every state, including Kentucky, build out an EV charging network that everyone can trust and rely upon. Halting the funding sets us all back, and it’s simply wrong.”
Attempts to reach a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Transportation about the amended complaint were not successful Wednesday.
The complaint states the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet already has “active contracts” to build 47 electric vehicle charging stations with more than $32 million allocated.
Construction has been slow across the country for chargers funded through NEVI; state officials unveiled a charger built at a Richmond gas station in September 2024, saying it was the first charger to be built through NEVI in Kentucky and the Southeastern United States.
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Written by Liam Niemeyer. Cross-posted from the Kentucky Lantern.
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