Andrea Wright, Environmental Policy Manager at the Vermont Agency of Transportation, told the House Appropriations Committee on Jan. 8 that the state has now obligated its full $21,200,000 NEVI (National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure) apportionment and expects to move a second solicitation this spring to fund additional stations.

Wright said Vermont opened its first NEVI-compliant station in Bradford in 2024 and used an early award process that obligated roughly $7.3 million in contracts before an executive order in January 2025 rescinded plan approvals and paused access to federal funds. A subsequent lawsuit to regain immediate access was unsuccessful, Wright said, because the state did not demonstrate the legal standard of harm. After federal NEVI guidance changed, AOT resubmitted its updated plan and received federal approval in late August; Wright said the agency regained access to funds by Aug. 29.

The agency plans to spend about $8 million from its first solicitation (including the Bradford site and administration costs) and reserve roughly $13 million to support up to 19 additional locations in a second RFP expected in spring, Wright said. "We have all of our $21,200,000 obligated," she told the committee, adding that the FY26 apportionment released by the federal government allowed AOT to obligate the remaining balance.

Committee members asked where the next round of sites will be sited. Hillary Del Ross, AOT sustainability and innovations project manager, confirmed Putney was identified in earlier gap analyses and will be included among priority locations to meet corridor spacing goals: "We had identified additional locations to fill gaps along the state and interstate highway corridors, and Putney was identified in that exercise," she said.

Officials said the NEVI program requires an alternative contracting approach to cover not just construction but five years of operations and maintenance. Wright described the chosen model as "design, build, own, operate, and maintain," and Del Ross said the federal program includes an uptime requirement and reporting obligations. "The federal requirement is a 97 uptime and all of the NEVI funded chargers have to do annual and quarterly reports that we submit up through a federal tool called EBChart," Del Ross said, explaining how AOT will track outages and downtime during the five-year maintenance period.

Del Ross said AOT's forthcoming RFP will score bidders on plans to "future-proof" sites, including connector-replacement strategies and make-ready work that allows capacity expansion for higher-power chargers or additional ports. Wright and Del Ross also noted challenges in finding site hosts that meet safety, lighting and amenity requirements.

Officials said the first nine sites under the initial solicitation should be built out by 2026, with some (including Randolph and Brattleboro) close to operation. Exact charger counts per site will be determined by bidders and the second solicitation; the plan allows some flexibility to include Level 2 chargers while meeting federal corridor performance expectations.

Wright told the committee AOT will submit the annual NEVI report required by the legislature next week, which will provide more detailed implementation and performance data. The second solicitation timeline, performance reporting and the agency's evaluation criteria will be the next practical milestones for the rollout.