States sue Trump for halting electric car charger program

California and 16 other states sued the Trump administration for suspending a $5 billion federal funding program for electric car chargers, arguing his directives to slash US subsidies for plug-in vehicles since taking office are unlawful.

The Democratic-leaning states challenged President Donald Trump’s move in February to suspend approval of funds to the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Formula Program, which helps to fund installation of chargers mostly along interstate highways. The complaint against the Department of Transportation and Federal Highway Administration was filed Wednesday in Seattle federal court.

California and Trump clashed over auto emission regulations during the president’s first term. Trump has vowed to rescind pro-EV initiatives, such as the NEVI program, rolled out by the Biden administration. California is at the forefront of pushing for the adoption of zero-emission electric vehicles.

“The president continues to roll back environmental and climate change protections, this time illegally stripping away billions of dollars for electric vehicle charging infrastructure, all to line the pockets of his Big Oil friends,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement. New York, Washington, Colorado and Oregon are part the coalition that filed the suit.

Representatives of the Department of Transportation didn’t 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. The program allocated $5 billion over five years to install chargers in every state in a bid to get more battery-powered cars in the hands of drivers. It was designed to help automakers, including Elon Musk’s Tesla Inc., which has received $31 million in funds so far, build out a network of chargers.

The Trump administration lacks the power to ignore Congressional funding mandates, Bonta said at a press conference on Wednesday.

Sales of zero-emission vehicles have touched nearly 2 million in California, accounting for more than 34% of all such vehicles sold in the US, Bonta’s office said in a statement. NEVI’s suspension would cost the state more than $300 million, hurt its EV industry that creates lucrative jobs and increase planet-warming pollution, according to the statement.

There are 178,000 electric vehicle charging points compared with 120,000 gasoline nozzles in California, the state’s Energy Commission Chair David Hochschild said at the press conference.

“China just reached 45% of new vehicle sales being electric last quarter, countries like Norway are 95%, and this is for technology born and developed here in the United States and here in California,” Hochschild said. “So it’s just imperative that we finish the job.”