Can electric vehicles continue to get federal aid in a capital dominated by President Donald Trump? We’ll find out.
A partisan battle is shaping up as part of the massive highway-policy bill that is rewritten every few years. The last cycle started in 2021 with the passage of the bipartisan infrastructure law under former President Joe Biden, which dedicated billions of dollars for EVs and their charging networks. That cycle is ending with the Trump administration trying (but not quite succeeding) to prevent those dollars from being spent.
Now, lawmakers are starting to write a new surface transportation reauthorization bill they hope to enact by next October. And congressional Democrats are signaling they won’t play ball if EVs aren’t a priority — even if it’s hard to imagine the Trump White House suddenly embracing battery-powered cars.
In a letter to committee heads, the signers said the bill won’t move without “critical investments in zero-emission vehicles and associated charging and fueling infrastructure.”
