Operators of charging stations are being offered $100 million in grants to help make fix or replace their broken chargers and to hopefully improve America’s EV infrastructure 

The United States Department of Transportation announced a Notice of Funding Opportunity today that will make $100 million in public funds available to EV charging networks in order to “repair or replace existing, but non-operational electric vehicle charging infrastructure.” 

Part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that was passed by Congress in 2021, the funds are intended to help improve American drivers’ access to EV charging. Specifically, the measure responds to complaints among many drivers relating to inoperative stations. 

“We know that people expect public EV chargers to work the first time, every time,” said Joint Office of Energy and Transportation Executive Director Gabe Klein. “That’s why we have a multi-pronged approach to create a seamless charging experience by building a capable workforce, tracking reliability metrics, and convening industry to ensure they can meet the performance standards for federally funded chargers set earlier this year.” 

Privately-owned chargers will be eligible for funds under the program, as long as they are freely available to the public to top up their EVs without restriction. The program will work in concert with the billions of dollars being offered to companies that plan to install new publicly available chargers. 

As more automakers introduce electric vehicles, and more consumers buy them, concerns about America’s charging infrastructure have arisen. Outside of Tesla’s Supercharger network, many complaints about broken and glitchy stations have been reported by organizations like J.D. Power, which claims that satisfaction with chargers is at an all-time low in 2023.