Fifteen states, the governor of Pennsylvania, and the District of Columbia filed a lawsuit against executive agencies on Tuesday for blocking funds allocated for electric vehicle (EV) charging station programs.
The suit claims that President Donald Trump’s administration has unconstitutionally withheld funding for two electric vehicle programs: the Charging and Fueling Infrastructure Discretionary Grant Program (CFI) and the Electric Vehicle Charger Reliability and Accessibility Accelerator Program (Accelerator). In 2022, Congress, with support from then-President Joe Biden’s administration, allocated billions to the programs under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA).
“Defendants have never publicly explained their actions suspending the CFI and Accelerator grant programs,” the complaint stated. “Instead, responses…to CFI and Accelerator awardees’ inquiries range from the dilatory, to the cryptic, to outright silence.”
In January, the White House issued “Unleashing American Energy,” an executive order aimed at galvanizing the US energy sector. The order directed agencies to pause funding to EV programs pending an administrative review as a measure to “terminate the Green New Deal.”
The order also established a policy to “eliminate the [EV] mandate and promote true customer choice.” In the complaint, plaintiffs expressed confusion and skepticism over the order’s language, writing:
The federal government has never adopted any such “EV mandate.” But in the name of eliminating this fictional mandate … the President ordered all federal agencies to “immediately pause the disbursement of funds appropriated through … the [IIJA], including but not limited to funds for electric vehicle charging stations made available through the [programs].”
Plaintiffs argued that the administration’s actions constitute “impoundment,” which occurs when the executive branch holds or refuses to distribute funds that the legislative branch has allocated. They claimed the executive action violated separation of powers principles and did not conform to the mandatory statutory framework for impoundment.
The complaint ultimately sought injunctive relief for the alleged violation, requesting an order for the administration to release the funds and permanently cease its suspension on their distribution.
In May, a similar group of state plaintiffs filed suit against the administration for blocking funding for another EV program created during the Biden administration. The court—the same court as in this case—granted the plaintiffs’ request for a preliminary injunction, finding that the funding block was likely unlawful.
The program in that case, the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Formula Program (NEVI), was blocked from receiving $5 billion by the administration. The Accelerator program in the current case is a subsidiary program of NEVI meant to receive 10 percent of NEVI funds. The CFI program is a separate program slated to receive roughly $1.8 billion.
