1. How much money was Tennessee slated to get, and how much did it actually get?
A: Tennessee was going to get $88 million through FY 2026, and was so far allocated $69.5 million.
In January of 2024, the state DOT announced it was going to award $21 million to 10 companies to design, build, operate and maintain 30 EV charging stations on roads around the state.
But a TN DOT spokesperson said at the time when the Trump administration paused the funding, they had only spent $638,000, leaving over $68 million unused. The Federal Highway Administration has said it’s no longer approving any state EV charger plans — without approving plans, they won’t obligate these funds to the states.
The TN DOT spokesperson said, “Everything is paused for now. Once [Federal Highway Administration] provides updated guidance, we will better know the next steps but at this time we are waiting.”
2. How many EV drivers are there in Tennessee and what does this mean for them?
A: The Biden administration encouraged drivers to buy EV cars and gave out more than $1 billion last year in tax credits across the country as an up-front incentive when they were buying cars — and his administration required new emission rules that require automakers to make more EVs.
But since his election, Trump has vowed to reverse those and other Biden’s pro-EV policies.
According to the U.S. Dept of Energy, Tennessee has 33,221 registered EVs as of Sept. 2024, plus another 11,000 Plug-In Hybrid Electric, so over 44,000 — out of 6,538,800 registered vehicles of all types, so EVs make up less than 1% of all light duty vehicles in the state.
There’s about 18 EVs for every one public electric charging port in the state — there’s also another 288 private charging ports.
All the states in this program had a very slow start and many haven’t had a single charging station open.
States had to submit plans to the Biden administration for approval, solicit bids on the work, and then award funds.
Like other spending Trump has paused, the legality of it is an open question, since the money was approved by Congress as part of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.