*Photo credit: Robin Buckson, The Detroit News
The Detroit News
Aug. 27, 2024
Grant Schwab
The cities of Detroit and Ann Arbor will receive $26.2 million for three electric vehicle charging projects, the Biden-Harris administration said Tuesday.
The new awards are part of a $521 million round of funding nationally to build out EV charging infrastructure. The other grants will fund the construction of an estimated 9,200 EV charging ports across 29 states, eight federally recognized tribes and the District of Columbia.
“We want EVs to be a great choice for people to make. Our part at the Federal Highway Administration is helping to build out that charging network, and that’s what these grants are about,” said Shailen Bhatt, head of the agency and a resident of Troy.
Bhatt noted that hesitancy over available charging infrastructure has been a major reason that many Americans have resisted the transition to EVs. But he emphasized that the current administration has worked hard to improve the infrastructure and defended against the notion of a so-called “EV mandate.”
“We want to emphasize to Americans that since President Biden has taken office, the number of publicly available EV chargers has doubled,” Bhatt told The Detroit News in a phone interview. That increase, as Bhatt has previously acknowledged, has been largely driven by private-sector investment.
He added: “This administration has made a commitment to building out the infrastructure that is critical for electric vehicles to be adopted by the American public. And again, it’s a choice. It’s not a mandate.”