The General Services Administration (GSA), responsible for managing federal government buildings and vehicle contracts, is set to shut down all its electric vehicle (EV) chargers nationwide. The agency has deemed these charging stations โnot mission criticalโ and plans to offload newly purchased EVs.
The GSA operates hundreds of EV chargers across the country, with around 8,000 plugs available for government-owned electric vehicles and the personal EVs of federal employees. However, according to a familiar source, an internal directive instructing federal workers to begin shutting down the chargers is expected to be officially announced next week. Some regional offices have already been told to start taking their chargers offline.
โAs GSA has worked to align with the current administration, we have received direction that all GSA-owned charging stations are not mission-critical,โ an internal email states.
The agency is now working on cancelling existing network contracts that keep the charging stations operational. Once these contracts are terminated, the stations will be permanently removed from service and switched off at the breaker. The process will begin early next week, with some stations being disconnected.
โNeither government-owned nor privately owned vehicles will be able to charge at these stations once theyโre out of service,โ the email confirms.
Charging stations are to be turned off across multiple locations
The GSAโs Denver office employees have been informed that EV chargers at four federally owned buildings will be offline next week. Colorado Public Radio first reported the news.
Under the Biden administration, the GSA implemented policies to transition federal fleets away from petrol and diesel vehicles and towards EVs. The federal government owns approximately 650,000 cars, with over half earmarked for replacement with EVs. The Inflation Reduction Act provided US$975 million to support this transition to upgrade federal buildings with sustainable technology, including charging infrastructure.
As of March 2024, the GSA had ordered over 58,000 EVs and begun installing more than 25,000 charging ports, adding 8,000 chargers across government properties to the existing. However, an interactive map showing GSA-owned charging station locations was taken offline in February. An archived version is still accessible through the Wayback Machine.
The agency plans to offload the EVs it purchased under Bidenโs policies. It remains unclear whether these vehicles will be sold or stored. Additionally, it is uncertain if other federal agencies that rely on GSA-operated chargers will follow suit with similar decisions for their EVs.
Trump administration reverses EV policies and funding
President Donald Trump’s move to shut down the chargers comes amid a broader rollback of EV policies. During his campaign, Trump vowed to dismantle Bidenโs EV initiatives, falsely characterising them as a federal โmandate.โ Since taking office, Trump has halted a US$5 billion programme to expand public EV charging infrastructure, signed an executive order reversing Bidenโs requirement for the federal government to transition to EVs, and signalled plans to eliminate federal EV tax credits and other consumer incentives.
Unlike petrol and diesel-powered vehicles, EVs produce no tailpipe emissions. Burning fossil fuels releases carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas contributing to climate change and intensifying extreme weather events like wildfires, hurricanes, and flooding. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the transportation sector accounts for around 28% of US greenhouse gas emissions.
A spokesperson for the GSA has not yet responded to requests for comment. According to a report by Wired, in addition to shutting down EV chargers, the agency also plans to sell approximately 500 federal buildings as part of the Trump administrationโs efforts to reduce the size of the government.
