Highway Funding Flexibility Act Kills EV Charger Money, Redirects Billions to Roads and Bridges

If you were banking on more federal money flowing into your state to build out that national network of EV chargers, you might want to sit down. The Highway Funding Flexibility Act of 2025 is essentially hitting the brakes on electric vehicle infrastructure funding and rerouting that cash straight into traditional road maintenance. Specifically, this bill mandates that all unspent funds from the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program, plus all future allocations, must now be used exclusively for four things: fixing Federal-aid highways, repairing bridges, building wildlife crossings, and creating more commercial truck parking spots. This is a massive pivot, pulling the plug on the original intent of those infrastructure dollars.

The EV Charging Network Gets Sidelined

Under the original Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), the NEVI program was designed to create a backbone of EV charging stations across the country, particularly along major highway corridors. This new act, detailed in Section 2, effectively cancels that mission. Any money not yet officially committed by the states is immediately shifted to the highway maintenance column. For the EV industry and anyone who bought an electric car expecting a robust charging network to materialize soon, this is a serious setback. It means fewer new stations, slower deployment, and potentially more anxiety about finding a charger on a long road trip.

Where Is the Money Going Instead?

So, if the funds aren’t building chargers, what are they doing? They’re going to the stuff we see every day: potholes, cracked asphalt, and aging bridges. The bill clearly defines the new allowed uses. For example, a state Department of Transportation (DOT) that was struggling to fund a critical bridge repair project now has a new pool of federal money to pull from. This is a clear win for traditional infrastructure. The funds are also directed toward building wildlife crossings—those bridges or tunnels that help animals cross highways safely—and expanding parking for commercial trucks, which is a huge issue for the logistics industry and drivers facing mandated rest periods.

The Grant Program Follows Suit

Section 3 handles a related pot of money: the federal grants previously set aside for charging and fueling infrastructure projects. Just like the NEVI formula funds, any unspent grant money is also being redirected to the states. The key detail here is that once redistributed, these grant funds are also restricted to the same list of traditional highway projects. They cannot be used for the original purpose of building charging stations. For a city or county that was hoping to get a grant to install chargers downtown or at a local transit hub, that funding stream has now dried up and been replaced by money for, say, repaving a local stretch of state highway.

Real-World Trade-Offs

This bill presents a classic trade-off. On one hand, it addresses the immediate, tangible need for better roads and bridges. If you’re a contractor, a commuter dealing with construction delays, or a truck driver needing a safe place to stop, this influx of cash to traditional projects is good news. It means potentially faster road repairs and safer structures. On the other hand, it fundamentally changes the federal commitment to the transition to electric vehicles. For the average consumer trying to decide whether to buy an EV, this uncertainty about the charging network could be a major disincentive. The bill prioritizes fixing the infrastructure we have today over building the infrastructure we need for tomorrow’s transportation landscape.