Vermont transportation officials report NEVI progress, highlight gaps and equity concerns in fast‑charging network

State transportation officials on Jan. 31 told the House Transportation Committee that Vermont has begun deploying federally supported fast chargers under the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Program (NEVI), but that federal siting rules, limited funding and uneven access to home charging mean the state will need further investment to meet its climate goals.

Patrick Murphy, State Policy Director at the Agency of Transportation, said the state has awarded projects from its initial NEVI solicitations and is under contract for a subset of sites while preparing additional solicitations. “We built a list of 8 qualified providers in the spring into the summer of this past year,” Murphy said. “From that list, we chose projects in another solicitation for the 14 locations that had not been built out. We received, we awarded, 11 additional locations and we’re under contract for 6 at the moment.”

The NEVI rules limit federal funding to designated alternative‑fuel corridors and set minimum standards: sites generally must be within one mile of an exit, stations no more than 50 miles apart and a minimum of four charging “ports” per site, Murphy said. The state’s recent legislation tightened its own goals to bring chargers deeper into communities — aiming for closer walking distance to amenities — and to plan for sites beyond the NEVI minimums where demand or freight charging needs warrant it.

Murphy and Andrea Wright, who leads the agency’s environmental policy and sustainability work, told lawmakers the NEVI funds are intended as a down payment to catalyze a national network and trigger later private investment. Wright said battery and vehicle costs remain a top concern for Vermonters, but fast‑charging access is a close second. “EV charging investment is a critical piece of that,” she said, adding that 80–90% of charging happens at home, so equity concerns rise for drivers without reliable home charging.

The agency provided several program figures: the initial round of awards amounted to roughly $8–9 million that funded 62 ports; awarded NEVI projects are funded at an 80 percent federal share with a 20 percent private match; and the state’s analysis projects a scenario of roughly 126,000 plug‑in vehicles by 2030 if the state meets its climate goals. The agency said it used a modeling tool that assumes about 71 percent of Vermonters will have access to home charging in its baseline scenario — lower than the tool’s national default of 87 percent — and that lower home‑charging access would substantially increase public fast‑charging needs.

Lawmakers pressed officials on specific items: Representative Corcoran asked how pricing is set for vendor‑owned stations; Murphy said vendors must propose per‑kilowatt‑hour prices in their solicitations, display pricing transparently, and must submit proposed pricing changes to the agency for review. Representative Wood asked whether highway signage could be updated to indicate whether a site offers Level‑2 or Level‑3 charging; Wright said vendors are required to pay for highway signs and that the agency must follow MUTCD (Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices) rules, and she offered to follow up on whether sign panels can indicate charger level.

Committee members also asked about the pace of build‑out. Murphy and Wright said the NEVI program is one complement to other state and federal grants; the agency is preparing a new solicitation to expand sites and intends to use additional state and federal funds to reach locations outside designated corridors. Wright noted that one prebuilt site (Bradford) and other private chargers already exist, but NEVI sites aim to meet the federal minimums and provide greater redundancy.

Officials told the committee the state had planned a solicitation release the following week and that the NEVI funding under the current plan (about $8.5 million) was temporarily paused because of clarification requests tied to the change in federal administration; they said they were working to resolve that issue and would follow up with the committee.

The agency supplied a written EV charging report to the committee on Jan. 15 that includes maps, the NEVI plans, and the modeling assumptions. Murphy and Wright said they expect to return for additional testimony in about 30 days to provide further details and answers lawmakers requested.

Looking ahead, officials emphasized that NEVI‑funded fast charging is intended to seed a national backbone so private investment can add capacity and redundancy. “The National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure was intended as a down payment,” Wright said. She added that siting choices also include seeking locations with nearby amenities so drivers can access services during charging and that the state is targeting no less than 150‑kilowatt stations for highway charging.

The committee did not take a formal vote on the NEVI projects during the hearing; officials described contract awards and solicitations already made by the Agency of Transportation and the Agency of Commerce and Community Development.