On September 13, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) released a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for the Electric Vehicle (EV) Charger Reliability and Accessibility Accelerator program. This program awards grants to state and local governments to help them address broken and non-operational EV chargers.
The FWHA is hosting a webinar to provide an overview of the program from 3-4 p.m. ET on Sept 21. Register for the webinar here
*FHWA anticipates that all eligible applicants will be awarded under this NOFO*
The Electrification Coalition’s (EC) key takeaways from the NOFO include:
- Goal: These funds aim to increase the reliability of the national public charging network, complementing private sector investments and increasing job opportunities in installing, maintaining, and repairing electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE).
- Eligible applicants: State departments and local governments can apply to this program. Grant administrators encourage local governments to partner with state department applicants to reduce administrative time.
- Eligible sites: Applicants must identify the chargers they are interested in repairing by using the Alternative Fuels Data Center’s (AFDC) Station Locator. Currently, the DOE AFDC identifies 6,261 offline public charging ports out of 151,506 (4.1%). Those not listed have four weeks to report unavailable status to AFDC. A final eligibility list will be produced on October 11, 2023.
- Eligible project costs. The program covers the repair or replacement of publicly accessible infrastructure.
- Repair can include hardware and labor costs.
- Replacement can include hardware, permitting, services upgrade, labor costs, and installation of entirely new EVSE.
- Ineligible project costs: The funds do not cover the repair of level 1 or non-networked chargers; these can only be replaced with networked level 2 chargers. Funds cannot be used for distributed energy resources unless needed to make the charger operational. Lastly, the funding can’t replace a level 2 with a DCFC not designed to serve users of designated Alternative Fuel Corridors (AFCs).
- Cost share: Awardees must provide at least 20% cost match of the total project. The maximum federal share is 80% of the project’s total cost. Awards will be distributed via a cost-reimbursable grant.
- Application process: Applications should not exceed five pages. Key components of the application include the Standard Form 424 (Application for Federal Assistance), the Grants.gov lobbying form, the cover page, and the project narrative.
- Due date: November 13, 2023, at 11:59 PM EST via Grants.gov.
- Total funding: $100 million. This funding is part of the $470M set aside from the NEVI formula program.
- Period of performance: Funded chargers should be operational within 12 months. All chargers repaired or replaced by this program must meet the NEVI minimum standards.
Please reach out to the EC team at infrastructure@electrificationcoalition.org with any questions.