EV Policy Timeline & Tracker

August 11, 2025 

The Federal Highway Administration released interim final guidance for the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) formula program, which provides funding for states to build high-speed public charging networks along highway corridors across the country. The guidance is functionally the same as the existing program, with a few simplifications to funding eligibility requirements. States are no longer required to place one EV charger every 50 miles or consider equity components in the award process, along with other permitting and construction requirements. However, this guidance gives states the opportunity to restart their NEVI plans and build out more public chargers.

July 28, 2025 

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed a rule that would rescind the 2009 Endangerment Finding, which acknowledged that greenhouse gas emissions cause harm to human health and the environment. This finding provided a legal foundation for the federal government to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles and other sources. If this finding is rescinded, the EPA’s Clean Car Standards, which regulate vehicle pollution, could be rolled back as well. 

July 4, 2025 

President Trump signed the administration’s funding bill into law. The bill repealed or weakened the following clean transportation investments, largely from the Inflation Reduction Act:

• Repealed 25E (Used Clean Vehicles), 30D (New Clean Vehicles), and 45W (Commercial Clean Vehicles) tax credits for vehicles acquired after Sept. 30, 2025.
• Repealed 30C (Alternative Fuel Vehicle Refueling Property Tax Credit) for all chargers placed in service after June 30, 2026. 
• Added severe restrictions to 45X (Battery Manufacturing Tax Credit)
• Eliminated monetary penalties under Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards, making the program nearly impossible to enforce.
• Rescinded unobligated funding (meaning funding that has not been assigned to a project through a contract) from transportation programs under the Inflation Reduction Act, including Climate Pollution Reduction Grants and the Neighborhood Access and Equity Grant Program.
• Cancelled additional funding for GSA Emerging Technologies, which could be used for federal government fleet electrification.
• Repealed several Inflation Reduction Act loan authorities and rescinded billions in unobligated credit subsidies, such as the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing (ATVM) loan program. 

February 6, 2025 

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) released a letter informing state departments of transportation that the U.S. Department of Transportation is rescinding all previously released guidance for implementing the National EV Infrastructure (NEVI) formula grant program and ordering all state NEVI plan approvals to be suspended immediately. 

• The administration is expected to release new guidance in spring 2025, and all states will be required to submit new plans in accordance with the updated guidance. The new guidance will affect new funding and previously approved but unobligated funds. 

January 20, 2025

The new administration issued the Unleashing American Energy executive order, which directed agencies to pause the disbursement of all Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) funds for 90 days and submit reviews of the projects, programs, and policies to the Office of Management and Budget and the National Economic Council. 

June 6, 2024

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) published a final rule for the Corporate Average Fuel Economy Program, also known as CAFE. The rule requires automakers to increase passenger car fuel economy by 2% per year for model years 2027 to 2031. By model year 2031, this rule would increase the average light-duty fuel economy to approximately 50.4 miles per gallon. These standards are designed to complement the Environmental Protection Agency’s emission standards, and manufacturers may use all available technologies, including electric or hybrid vehicles, in order to comply. This offers automakers much flexibility in how they achieve the CAFE standards. 

March 20, 2024

The US Environmental Protection Agency announced new regulations for greenhouse gas emissions from passenger cars, known as the Clean Car Standards. Under these rules, automakers are required to reduce vehicle emissions across their entire fleet, which means that they can adjust the types of vehicles they offer in order to provide customers with a range of choices. The new rules apply to passenger vehicles sold for model years 2027 through 2032, and the EPA expects the rules to lead to an industry-wide average emissions target of 85 grams of carbon dioxide per mile. They would also meet President Biden’s goal that “half of all new cars and trucks sold in 2030 would be zero-emission.” 

August 16, 2022

The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA) was signed into law. It invested billions of dollars in EV and battery manufacturing, and EV and charging tax credits, including: 

• 30D: New Clean Vehicle Tax Credit
• 30C: Alternative Fuel Refueling Property Credit
• 25E: Used Clean Vehicle Tax Credit
• 45W: Commercial Clean Vehicle Tax Credit
• $3 billion to support USPS zero-emission fleet

November 15, 2021

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), also known as the Infrastructure, Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), was signed into law. It included $7.5 billion for EV infrastructure investments, such as:

• $5 billion to all 50 states and territories to build public charging networks through the National EV Infrastructure (NEVI) formula program. 
• $2.5 billion distributed over five years through Charging and Fueling Infrastructure (CFI) competitive grants, which include the Community Program and the Corridor Program. 
• The BIL required the coordination of the Departments of Transportation and Energy and resulted in the creation of the Joint Office.

December 7, 2009

The US Environmental Protection Agency adopted the Endangerment Finding, which acknowledges that greenhouse gas emissions are air pollutants under the Clean Air Act and that they threaten the public health and welfare of current and future generations. This finding was based on Massachusetts v. EPA, in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Clean Air Act’s definition of ‘air pollutant’ should include greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. This finding was a prerequisite for implementing greenhouse gas emissions vehicle standards. 

October 3, 2008

The Energy Improvement and Extension Act of 2008 was enacted. This law created a new tax credit for qualifying plug-in electric vehicles, the amount of which was determined by the vehicle’s weight and battery capacity. The total credit amount could not exceed $7,500. The credit was designed to be phased out when each manufacturer sold 200,000 qualified plug-in electric vehicles, and it was reduced to 50% and then to 25% of the original incentive during the year-long phase-out period.