This spring, NCDOT will seek proposals from businesses willing to install public EV chargers with financial help from the state. Among the areas the department has determined could use them is a corridor between the Raleigh Beltline and Exit 446 on U.S. 64 near Spring Hope.
NCDOT received $109 million under the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure or NEVI program, which was created through the big infrastructure bill approved by Congress in 2021. In late 2024, NCDOT awarded the first round of NEVI grants worth $5.92 million to help businesses install fast-chargers in nine places.
Then last winter the Trump administration paused the program. More than a dozen states sued to get it restarted, which the administration did last summer after a judge issued a preliminary injunction. A final ruling in favor of the states was issued this week.
In meantime, the Trump administration revised the guidelines that directed states where to subsidize charging stations. The initial rules required that there be charging stations at least every 50 miles along so-called “alternative fuel corridors” — interstate and federal highways where it was thought EV chargers would be most needed.
But since those guidelines were written, companies have opened EV charging stations in many places along those corridors. Now states have more leeway in deciding where to help businesses install EV chargers, according to Transportation Secretary Daniel Johnson.
“The revised guidance enables the department to focus its support for the build-out of a statewide EV charging network in areas of the state where there are fewer chargers and greater needs,” Johnson said in a statement. “By focusing on areas of need, it helps ensure that all North Carolinians and those traveling in every corner of the state can access the EV charging network.”
The guidelines allow NCDOT to reduce the number of charging stations it will help build along those corridors from 41 to 16. This week, the state published a map of those 16 places. In addition to I-87/U.S. 64 east of Raleigh, they include a stretch of U.S. 70 near Kinston and three more segments of U.S. 64 between Tarboro and Manteo.
Later this year, NCDOT will begin soliciting proposals for another round of NEVI grants to help build EV charging stations in communities outside the highway corridors, including small towns and other rural areas.
The goal of the NEVI program is to help ensure all communities have access to EV chargers and to ease concerns people have about running out of power on long trips. Private companies can be reimbursed up to 80% of the cost to build and operate an electric vehicle charging station for five years.
©2026 Raleigh News & Observer, Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
