California is suing the Trump administration for the 50th time. This is more than the fee for the EV charger network
California has filed its 50th lawsuit against the Trump administration this year — this time over the suspension of federal funding for electric vehicle charging infrastructure, state officials announced Tuesday.
The US Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration allegedly refused to approve new funding for two grant programs created under President Biden, the Charging and Fueling Infrastructure Program and the Electric Vehicle Charger Reliability and Accessibility Accelerator program, starting this spring, according to a lawsuit filed in the US District Court for the Western District of Washington. These projects were intended to build, repair and maintain electric vehicle chargers.
The US EV charging network continues to grow. California has more than 201,000 public EV charging stations, compared to about 120,000 gas stations nationwide, according to state data. But to tackle climate change, more is needed.
The complaint says the Trump administration’s actions violate the constitutional separation of powers because the funding was approved by a majority of members of Congress. It is asking the court to declare the administration’s actions illegal and order it to reinvest the funds, which are about $3 billion.
“Bipartisan is not a word you hear very often these days, but it emphasizes that this is not about party politics – it is about the future of our country, our economy and our planet,” California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta told reporters on Tuesday. “Trump is putting the brakes on programs that will reduce global warming pollution and smog, expand access to clean cars and create thousands of green jobs, and in doing so, he’s running over the equal branch of Congress that holds the purse strings in this country.”
Bonta led the case with the attorneys general of Washington and Colorado, joined by a coalition of 13 other states and Washington, DC.
The White House press office and the Department of Transportation did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Trump in January ordered all federal agencies to immediately stop disbursing funds for two federal grant programs as part of his executive order titled “Unleashing American Energy,” which described such efforts as “burdensome and ideologically motivated” and too expensive for American consumers.
The five-year grant programs were created under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act passed by Congress in 2021. The Charging and Heating Program directs $2.5 billion to local governments and EV chargers and hydrogen fueling infrastructure while the Accelerator program awards grants to states and localities for EV charger maintenance and repair.
Together, they contributed $179.8 million in federal funds to California to help build a network of fast EV chargers in the community, Bonta said.
That includes a $59.3 million award from the California Department of Transportation to build a medium- and heavy-duty electric freight tunnel; $55.9 million to the California Energy Commission for transportation of contaminated cargo through major freight lines and major ports; and $63.1 million to Caltrans to repair and replace broken EV chargers. A common complaint of EV drivers is that often, the first generation chargers don’t work.
These funds are separate from those released by the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program – a separate $5 billion program created under Biden to help build a national EV infrastructure network across the US, which was also temporarily suspended by the Trump administration this year. That money just started flowing again after a federal court overturned a moratorium after lawsuits from California and other states.
Funds from Tuesday’s lawsuit are critical to California’s EV adoption and climate goals, state officials said.
“California will defend the Constitution, our communities and the future we are building,” said Gov. Gavin Newsom in a statement. “Since there are 2.4 million vehicles that do not produce gas on our roads and important projects are ready to move forward, we are taking this to court.”
California leads the country in the adoption of zero-emission vehicles, with a projection of at least 7.1 million plug-in passengers on the road by 2030. The state was working to ban the sale of all new gas-powered vehicles by 2035 before the Trump administration signed measures to ban it. The state filed a lawsuit in court.
Trump also ended federal tax credits for electric vehicles. This month, the president announced a proposal to lower the fuel economy and emissions regulations that control pollution from cars and trucks that use gasoline.
Bonta said 50 federal lawsuits have protected $168 billion in federal funding that the current administration has tried to withhold from California.
Tuesday’s filing was also filed by the attorneys general of Arizona, Delaware, District of Columbia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.
Last week, a federal judge overturned the Trump administration’s ban on federal permits for wind energy projects, another challenge brought by California and more than a dozen other states.
