Buy American Rules for EV Stations

President Biden announced plans to build out a nation-wide network of electric vehicle charging stations that will require the purchase US-manufactured chargers. “Effective immediately, all EV chargers funded through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law must be built in the United States,” according to the White House Fact Sheet.

In a separate announcement [88 FR 10619] The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) issued a temporary public interest waiver to waive Buy America requirements for steel, iron, manufactured products, and construction materials in electric vehicle (EV) chargers. EV charger housing components that are predominantly steel and iron are excluded from the waiver and must meet current FHWA Buy America requirements.

The plan is part of the President’s goal to build a national network of 500,000 electric vehicle chargers and have EVs make up at least 50 percent of new car sales by 2030, all while advancing an industrial strategy to continue to build-out the domestic EV and EV charging industry, according to a White House fact sheet.

The 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), enacted as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) [Pub. L. 117-58], includes $5 billion over five years that will be made available under the new National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program to “provide funding to States to strategically deploy EV charging infrastructure and to establish an interconnected network to facilitate data collection, access, and reliability.” This $10,000 per station federal subsidy is on top of the Alternative Fuel Vehicle Refueling Property Tax Credit under the Inflation Reduction Act, which provides a tax credit of 30% of the cost or 6% in the case of property subject to depreciation, not to exceed $100,000.