Trump administration moves to require 100% domestic materials in EV chargers

The Federal Highway Administration designed the proposal as an incentive for manufacturers to shift their production domestically. The Trump administration said it believes that companies today are able to produce EV chargers in U.S. facilities, in part, because 2023 supply chain issues have subsided.

The Biden administration allowed waivers to the existing 55% “Buy America” requirement to help accelerate the installation of a national charging network and prevent bottlenecks with domestic producers of steel, iron and other materials. The temporary waiver applied to all EV chargers manufactured by July 1, 2024, and whose installation began by Oct. 1, 2024.

The new waiver proposal, if finalized, would restrict funding for EV chargers unless they were primarily made of materials produced in the U.S. Renewable energy experts say this is not feasible with today’s global supply chain.

“Without corresponding domestic production capacity in place, this proposal would undermine the very manufacturing growth it seeks to promote,” Trisha Dellolacono, head of policy at Calstart, a California-based nonprofit focused on renewable transportation, said in a statement.