Office of the
Illinois Attorney General
Kwame Raoul

Chicago – Attorney General Kwame Raoul joined a coalition of 15 attorneys general and the governor of Kentucky in urging the Federal Highway Administration to withdraw a proposal that would require electric vehicle (EV) chargers funded with federal dollars to be made entirely with U.S. components.

Under current federal rules, EV chargers funded through federal infrastructure programs must be assembled in the United States and contain at least 55% domestically manufactured components beginning this fall. Raoul and the attorneys general argue the new proposal, which will raise that requirement to 100%, sets a standard that manufacturers cannot currently meet.

“This is the Trump administration’s latest arbitrary and capricious attempt to stop the momentum of our clean energy transition that has rightfully been supported by Congress,” Raoul said. “This is an unrealistic standard, which is why my colleagues and I are urging the Federal Highway Administration to withdraw the proposal and maintain the current approach, which supports both domestic manufacturing and the timely deployment of EV charging infrastructure nationwide.”

As Raoul and the coalition’s comment letter explains, the Federal Highway Administration should not adopt the proposal because it conflicts with federal law, exceeds the agency’s authority, and ignores the reliance of states and manufacturers on existing rules. States across the country, including Illinois, use federal funding from programs such as the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program and the Charging and Fueling Infrastructure program to expand EV charging networks. In their comment letter, Raoul and the coalition explain that imposing a 100% domestic component requirement would likely halt many of those projects because no chargers currently meet that standard.

Raoul and the attorneys general also note that manufacturers and states have already made significant investments based on the current framework, which gradually increases domestic manufacturing requirements to the 55% level established in federal law. Abruptly changing that standard would undermine those investments and slow the growth of domestic EV charger manufacturing in the United States.

Joining Raoul in sending the letter are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island and Washington. The governor of Kentucky also joined this brief.