By Keith Laing | Bloomberg

The Trump administration is suspending federal funding for electric car chargers, following through on one of President Donald Trump’s first directives to roll back US subsidies for plug-in vehicles after he retook the White House.

The US Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration announced in a letter dated Feb. 6 posted online Friday that it is suspending approval of funds intended to be distributed to states from the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Formula Program, which provides funding to add chargers mostly along the interstate highway system.

FHWA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The NEVI program was included in the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law that was passed by Congress under former President Joe Biden. It allocated $5 billion over five years to install chargers in every state in an effort to jump-start acceptance of the plug-in cars.

Trump has made rescinding Biden’s pro-EV initiatives a key plank of his economic platform. In his address at the Republican National Convention in July, he promised to “end the electric vehicle mandate from day one” of his second administration.

Since Trump’s inauguration, the DOT has also moved to rewrite stringent US fuel-economy rules approved under Biden.

Ryan Gallentine, managing director at Advanced Energy United, which represents EV manufacturers, said in an emailed statement the charger halt “creates great uncertainty for the billions of dollars states and private companies are investing in the urgently needed infrastructure to support America’s highway transportation network.”

Elon Musk, who heads Trump’s government efficiency team, is also chief executive officer of Tesla Inc., which has the largest EV charger network in the US.