Sixteen Democrat-led U.S. states and the District of Columbia have filed a new federal lawsuit against the Trump administration, claiming it is illegally withholding over $2 billion in funds for electric vehicle (EV) charging networks.
Lodged Tuesday in Seattle’s U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, the suit accuses the Department of Transportation and Federal Highway Administration of defying Congress’s allocations from Joe Biden’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
This follows a May case over the $5 billion National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure programme, where a judge ordered funds released to over a dozen states; streamlined rules later enabled awards in Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, and Wisconsin.
“The Trump administration’s illegal attempt to stop funding for electric vehicle infrastructure must come to an end,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a release. “This is just another reckless attempt that will stall the fight against air pollution and climate change, slow innovation, thwart green job creation, and leave communities without access to clean, affordable transportation.”
Targeting $1.8 billion in Charging and Fueling Infrastructure Grants and $350 million for the Electric Vehicle Charger Reliability Accelerator, the action—led by California and Colorado attorneys general, with Democratic peers from 14 other states and Pennsylvania’s governor—seeks court-mandated disbursements.
“We had to have an electric car within a very short period of time, even though there was no way of charging them and lots of other things,” Trump said in a Dec. 3 press conference. “In certain parts of the Midwest, they spent—to build nine chargers they spent $8 billion. So, that wasn’t working out too well.”
Trump’s post-January reversals have axed Biden’s emissions rules (50.4 mpg target by 2031), $7,500 EV tax credits, and fines, favouring oil and hybrids amid slowing sales—new EVs averaged $58,638 last month vs $49,814 overall—with Ford and Honda scaling back EV plans.