California filed its 50th lawsuit against the Trump administration this year. This time, state officials announced Tuesday that they are cutting off federal funding for electric vehicle charging infrastructure.
Since this spring, the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration have refused to approve new funding for two grant programs created under President Biden, and , according to a lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington. The program was aimed at manufacturing, repairing, and maintaining electric vehicle chargers.
The US EV charging network continues to expand. California has more than 201,000 public EV charging ports, compared to about 120,000 gasoline nozzles statewide. But more needs to be done to address climate change.
The complaint alleges that the Trump administration’s actions violate the constitutional separation of powers because the funding was approved by a bipartisan majority in Congress. It asks the court to declare the administration’s actions illegal and order the nearly $3 billion in funds to be reinstated.
“You don’t hear the word bipartisan much these days, but it’s a word that emphasizes that this is not about partisan politics. It’s about the future of our country, our economy, and our planet,” California Atty said. Gen. Rob Bonta told reporters Tuesday. “Trump is putting the brakes on projects that would reduce global warming pollution and smog, expand access to clean cars, and create thousands of green jobs, and in doing so he is undermining his Congressional peers who hold the purse strings of this country.”
Bonta led the lawsuit along with the attorneys general of Washington and Colorado, and was joined by a coalition of 13 other states and Washington, D.C.
The White House press office and the Department of Transportation did not respond to requests for comment. In January, President Trump directed all federal agencies to immediately stop disbursing funds from two grant programs as part of an executive order titled , calling such efforts “burdensome, ideologically driven” and costly to American consumers.
The five-year grant program was created under the bipartisan Infrastructure Act of 2021 passed by Congress. The Charging and Refueling Program will allocate $2.5 billion to states and local governments for EV chargers and hydrogen fueling infrastructure, while the Accelerator Program will award grants to states and local governments for EV charger maintenance and repair.
Together, the companies will provide $179.8 million in federal funding to California to help build a public EV fast charger network, Bonta said.
This includes a $59.3 million award to the California Department of Transportation to build freight corridors for medium and heavy electric vehicles. $55.9 million to the California Energy Commission for zero-emissions freight transportation on major freight corridors and major ports. Paying Caltrans $63.1 million to repair and replace broken EV chargers. A common complaint from EV drivers is that too often early generation chargers don’t work.
This funding is separate from that provided by the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Program. The program is a separate $5 billion initiative created under the Biden administration to foster a national network of EV infrastructure across the United States, which was also suspended this year by the Trump administration. Those funds were provided after a federal court reversed the suspension following lawsuits from California and other states.
State officials said the funding from Tuesday’s lawsuit is critical to California’s EV adoption and climate change goals.
“California will protect our Constitution, our communities, and the future we are building,” Governor Gavin Newsom said in a statement. “We are moving forward with our plans and we are ready to move forward with important projects, so we will take this to court.”
California is leading the nation in zero-emission vehicle adoption, with at least 7.1 million plug-in passenger EVs expected to be on the road by 2030. The state was working toward that goal even before the Trump administration. The state filed a lawsuit against this.
President Trump also ended federal tax credits for electric vehicles. This month, the president announced proposals to curb pollution from gasoline-powered cars and trucks.
Bonta said the state’s 50 lawsuits have protected $168 billion in federal funds that the current administration had sought to withhold from California.
Tuesday’s motion was also filed by the attorneys general of Arizona, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.
Last week, a federal judge rejected the Trump administration’s ban on federal permits for , another new challenge brought by California and more than a dozen other states.
