In a significant legal move, sixteen states along with the District of Columbia have initiated a lawsuit against the Trump administration. This legal action, announced on Tuesday, challenges the alleged unlawful withholding of over $2 billion earmarked for electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure programs.

The lawsuit, lodged in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, is the latest in an ongoing series of legal confrontations. The states argue that the funding for EV chargers, which was promised under legislation from former President Joe Biden’s tenure, is being improperly withheld. The Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration are accused of “impounding” these funds, which the states contend were rightfully allocated by Congress.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta voiced strong opposition to the administration’s actions, stating, “The Trump Administration’s illegal attempt to stop funding for electric vehicle infrastructure must come to an end.” He criticized the move as a reckless maneuver that could hinder efforts against air pollution and climate change, slow down innovation, obstruct green job creation, and deny communities access to clean and affordable transportation.

While the Department of Transportation has yet to provide a comment regarding the lawsuit, the controversy traces back to a directive issued in February. The Trump administration ordered a halt on spending the funds allocated for EV charging stations under the bipartisan infrastructure law established during the previous administration.

Earlier in May, several states took legal action against the administration for withholding funds from the $5 billion National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program, intended for expanding charging infrastructure nationwide. A federal judge subsequently mandated the release of a substantial portion of these funds to more than a dozen states, marking a temporary victory in the ongoing legal saga.

Several states filed a lawsuit in May against the administration for withholding the funding from the $5 billion National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program for a nationwide charging buildout. A federal judge later ordered the administration to release much of the funding for chargers in more than a dozen states.

Tuesday’s separate lawsuit addresses the withholding of funding obligations for two other programs: $1.8 billion for the Charging and Fueling Infrastructure Grant program, as well as about $350 million in Electric Vehicle Charger Reliability and Accessibility Accelerator money.

Tuesday’s lawsuit is led by attorneys general from California and Colorado, joined by the attorneys general of Arizona, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin and the District of Columbia, and the governor of Pennsylvania.

The Trump administration has been hostile to EVs and has dismantled several policies friendly to cleaner cars and trucks that were put in place under Biden, in favor of policies that instead align with Trump’s oil and gas industry agenda.

Once in office a second time, President Trump immediately ordered an end to what he has called Biden’s “EV mandate.” While Biden targeted for half of new vehicle sales in the U.S. to be electric by 2030, policies did not force American consumers to buy or automakers to sell electric vehicles.

Biden did set stringent tailpipe emissions and fuel economy rules in an effort to encourage more widespread EV uptake, as the auto industry would have had to meet both sets of requirements with a greater number of EVs in their sales mix.

Under the Biden administration, consumers could also receive up to $7,500 in tax incentives off the price of an EV purchase.

The Trump administration has proposed rolling back both tailpipe rules and the gas mileage standards, cut the fines to automakers for not meeting those standards, and eliminated the EV credits.

Trump has also repeated incorrect information about the status of the federal charging programs; without all of the funds available, only a fraction of what was obligated has been spent so far.

“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 about the proposed weakened fuel economy rules. “In certain parts of the Midwest, they spent — to build nine chargers they spent $8 billion. So, that wasn’t working out too well.”

The lawsuit comes amid those regulatory changes and as the pace of EV sales have slowed in the U.S. as mainstream buyers remain concerned about both charging availability and the price of the vehicles.

New EVs transacted for an average of $58,638 last month, compared with $49,814 for a new vehicle overall, according to auto buying resource Kelley Blue Book.

Automakers, meanwhile, have responded to consumers accordingly.

Earlier this week, Ford Motor Co. announced it was pivoting away from its once-ambitious, multi-billion dollar electrification strategy in lieu of more hybrid-electric and more fuel-efficient gasoline-powered vehicles.

In the spring, Honda Motor Co. also said it would take a significant step back from its EV efforts.

Still, EVs are gaining traction in other areas around the world.

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Alexa St. John is an Associated Press climate reporter. Follow her on X: @alexa_stjohn. Reach her at ast.john@ap.org.

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