The state has announced the development of 34 high-speed EV charging stations, developed as part of a national initiative to increase charging options. Officials are seeking bids for private companies to build, upgrade, operate or maintain 34 stations. Of those, 31 are new locations. Proposals are due Jan. 16.
Funds provided by the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program (NEVI) will cover up to 80 percent of the construction costs of the stations, which will be privately operated, Garin Groff, a public information officer with the Arizona Department of Transportation, said. Construction on the initial round of stations, which are along interstates, is expected to begin by the end of 2025, Groff said, adding: “We expect it will take about one year to complete the stations.”
This round of charging infrastructure funding follows a previous series approved in 2024 for 18 stations along Arizona interstates. Arizona is eligible for up to $76.5 million from the NEVI program, a $5 billion component of the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The state was also awarded $13 million for local and tribal governments in fiscal years 2022 and 2023 through the Charging and Fueling Infrastructure grant program.
The NEVI-funded chargers, which will supply at least 150 kilowatts of power per plug, will be placed about 50 miles apart, and generally within about a mile of a highway. Arizona was home to nearly 89,800 EVs in 2023, according to the U.S. Department of Energy’s most recently available data. And in 2023, 9 percent of all light-duty vehicle sales in Arizona were electric, according to Atlas Public Policy.
At least 439,000 fully electric cars were sold in the United States during the third quarter of 2025, according to the Zero Emission Transportation Association. U.S. EV sales in the third quarter were up 30 percent year-over-year, according to Cox Automotive — owing, in part, to the phasing out of EV sales federal tax credits in September, which prompted stirring EV sales prior to the phase-out.
States like California, which boasts the highest market share of EVs in the country, have numerous state-funded to programs, such as the Fast Charge California Project, to build out charging infrastructure.
To date, the NEVI program has helped build and open 93 high-speed charging stations, providing 410 ports, in more than a dozen states, according to the EV States Clearinghouse data dashboard.
Not only is this infrastructure helping to advance the sale and use of EVs, but the development is having an economic development impact, industry observers and advocates said. When it comes to public charging, there are now more than 200,000 charging ports across the country, Rachel Reolfi, senior policy analyst for Atlas Public Policy, said. A research firm, Atlas focuses on clean transportation and clean energy.
“Only a very small portion of those were directly funded by these programs,” Reolfi said, referring to public-sector programs like NEVI. “But there’s all this additional investment that’s also happening.”
Editor’s note: This article has been updated to more accurately reflect the number of fully electric vehicles sold as the federal tax credit expired.
