The Biden administration announced $521 million in grants Tuesday to help build 9,200 electric vehicle chargers around the country.
It’s the latest round of funding from the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law, which dedicated $7.5 billion to the construction of EV chargers. The program has been criticized for its slow rollout, but the Department of Transportation said in a news release that government funding has helped catalyze private investment.
The number of publicly available chargers has roughly doubled in the last four years, from 95,000 at the beginning of 2021 to 188,000 last month, and about 1,000 new chargers are being installed each week.
EVs have become an issue in the presidential campaign, with former President Donald Trump attacking them as part of a “green new scam.” The Biden administration, including Vice President Kamala Harris, has promoted EVs as a way to reduce climate-warming emissions while creating jobs.
