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Statement of Need:

The FHWA is directed by Paragraph (2) under the Highway Infrastructure Program heading in title VIII of division J of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) (enacted as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act) (Pub. L. 117-58) (Nov. 15, 2021) to create minimum standards and requirements for NEVI-funded projects.  As outlined in statute, the purpose of the NEVI Formula Program is to "provide funding to States to strategically deploy EV charging infrastructure and to establish an interconnected network to facilitate data collection, access, and reliability." This purpose would be satisfied by creating a convenient, affordable, reliable, and equitable network of chargers throughout the country.  Currently, there are no national standards for the installation, operation, or maintenance of EV charging stations, and wide disparities exists among EV charging stations in key components, such as operational practices, payment methods, site organization, display of price to charge, speed and power of chargers, cybersecurity and resilience of charger components and software, and information communicated about the availability and functioning of each charging station.  The FHWA is directed by section 11129 of BIL, which amends 23 U.S.C. 109, by adding a requirement that EV charging station standards apply to all projects that install EV charging infrastructure using funds provided under title 23, United States Code.  This proposed rule does not conflict with or supersede other title 23, United States Code statutory requirements or their implementing regulations.  This regulation would enable States to implement federally-funded charging station projects in a standardized fashion across a national EV charging network that can be utilized by all EVs regardless of vehicle brand.  Such standards would provide consumers with reliable expectations for travel in an electric vehicle across and throughout the United States and support a national workforce skilled and trained in EVSE installation and maintenance.

Summary of the Legal Basis:

The FHWA is directed by Paragraph (2) under the Highway Infrastructure Program heading in title VIII of division J of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) (enacted as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act) (Pub. L. 117-58) (Nov. 15, 2021) to create minimum standards and requirements for NEVI-funded projects. The FHWA is directed by Section 11129 of BIL, which amends 23 U.S.C. 109, by adding a requirement that EV charging station standards apply to all projects that install EV charging infrastructure using funds provided under title 23, United States Code.

Alternatives:

In the development of its proposal, FHWA considered alternatives to its published proposal including recommendations received as part of its Request for Information published in the Federal Register at 86 FR 67782 on November 29, 2021. Discussion is included in the preamble of the NPRM and in the preliminary Regulatory Impact Analysis document found at the docket for this rulemaking.

Anticipated Costs and Benefits:

The preliminary Regulatory Impact Analysis document provided in the docket for this rulemaking provides a national estimate of the costs and benefits to implement this rulemaking. All of these minimum requirements are required by BIL. Many of the costs and benefits in the proposed rule are difficult to quantify, although for some provisions break even analysis and other illustrative calculations comparing the costs and benefits of alternative requirements have been provided. These illustrative calculations and qualitative analyses show that proposed requirements have advantages over other possible alternatives when considering costs and benefits.

Risks:

None identified.