Just a few days ago, the Biden administration awarded $635 million in grants for electric vehicle (EV) charging stations. What will be left undistributed is barely $700,000 of the $2.5 billion from the 2021 Infrastructure Law.
These grants from the Biden administration’s zero-emission refueling infrastructure programs will fund 49 projects which will create more than 11,500 EV charging stations and alternative fuel infrastructure. These will be in areas throughout 27 states, four federally recognized Native American tribes, and the District of Columbia area.
Of that money, $368 million will be distributed for 42 projects enlarging EV charging station infrastructure within cities and towns across the country. Seven other projects, earmarked for building out the national fast charging network along designated "Alternative Fuel Corridors", will receive $268 million.
According to the New Hampshire Dept. of Transportation (NHDOT) and New Hampshire Dept. of Environmental Services (NHDES), the state received $15 million in federal grant funding. This money is to create additional electric vehicle charging stations across NH under the Federal Highway Administration's Charging and Fueling Infrastructure (CFI) Discretionary Grant Program. These CFI grant funds will manage a program called “Next Level NH,” expanding EV charging stations in rural and urban areas, throughout the state. The grant money is designated to build another 199 charging ports, the equivalent of one gas station pump.
That would be a huge increase as more people are wanting to turn to EV’s as one way of addressing climate change. According to the DriveElectricNH database, there are 699 public charging ports of all types available at 273 different locations in NH. But we’ve still got a long way to go before we catch up with three other New England states. Maine has 1,164 charging ports in 515 locations; Massachusetts has 8,429 charging ports in 3,461 locations and Vermont has 1,130 charging ports in 444 locations.
The goal of the Biden administration was to create 500,000 EV chargers by 2030. This $15 million in grant money will certainly help NH towards achieving that goal.