Months ago, Congress passed an act that appropriated nearly $70 million through the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program to Kentucky. The program aims to make traveling by electric vehicle a viable option across the Commonwealth. However, the Trump administration has threatened to slash those funds by nearly half.
Governor Andy Beshear said this is unlawful seeing as the funds were already promised by the federal government. He has joined 19 other states and the District of Columbia to fight for funding.
“When congress passes a law and makes an appropriation, when we have a contract with the federal government, I am absolutely going to enforce it,” he said. “We are going to make sure that we implement that program here in Kentucky.”
Beshear said Kentucky has become the leading producer of electric vehicle batteries in the United States and the number of available charging stations should reflect that fact.
“I’m committed to making sure that if we can build a battery in Kentucky, we should be able to charge it all over Kentucky,” said Beshear. “That means building out infrastructure across our state to support EV charging stations.”
The funding freeze will not affect any of the 46 electric vehicle charging sites that have already been planned. Just recently a station was installed at the Love’s gas station in Grayson, making northeastern Kentucky more accessible for people with electric vehicles.