Planning and Partnering for Charging and Fueling Infrastructure (CFI) Grant Program Success

The Charging and Fueling Infrastructure Grant Program, administered by the Federal Highway Administration, announced its first round of awardees in March of 2024. Many of these projects focused on comprehensive scopes of impact and infrastructure where the outcomes aggressively aligned with the goals of the program. 

This blog provides further insight and analysis around who won and why and how ZEF Energy is supporting future rounds of CFI funding with winning solutions and tools.

 
 

Grant Program Focus & Eligibility

Recipients could include municipalities, planning organizations, Indian Tribes, U.S. Territories, or entities owned by one or more of the entities previously listed. Of course, broader partnerships are vital to implementation and choosing the right partner or partners to help accomplish your goals is vital for project success. Projects might involve installing EV charging stations along highways, in parking lots, or at other strategic locations to support the adoption of electric vehicles and funds can cover up to 80% of project cost. However, bringing additional cost share helps the competitiveness of the grant application.

Project Scope Considerations

Source: ZEF analysis (FWHA award data)

$622 million was awarded to 47 separate projects under Round 1, across the two subparts of the CFI umbrella – the CFI Community Program and the Corridor CFI Program. Awards were split nearly evenly between the two subprograms, $310 million and $312 million respectively. In total, 22 states and 1 territory will receive the benefit of these funds. This leaves a gap in distribution to 28 states and additional territories.


What Round 1 shows us is that the smallest project awards were for $0.5 million to $2 million with awards of $14 to $15 million making up the largest portion by count, 14 of the 47 awards. Similarly, only four (5) projects included funding amounts greater than $50 million.  

Multiple Tribal governments, cities, and counties were awarded funds. However, there is significant opportunity to work collaboratively with a community that shares similar interests, geography, or similar barriers to community or corridor electrification. 

ZEF Energy offers a collaborative approach to understanding local goals and challenges and finding partners and innovative solutions to solve problems in hard to serve areas, particularly in rural areas or where utilities are looking to collaborate with their local governments and businesses. Our planning, scoping, and partnering approach help overcome local infrastructure limitations, power cost issues, and stakeholder engagement speed bumps. Our team then partners to ensure support all the way through the grant submission process.

Gaps in Geographical Award and Upcoming Opportunity

Release of the Round 2 request for proposal (RFP) is anticipated yet this spring or early summer and Round 1 funding left a variety of funding gaps across the country. While there are many corners of the country with significant opportunity, ZEF Energy has identified key stakeholders that are important for facilitating partnerships on the ground as well as regions that continue to be underserved and are well situated to make applications in Rounds 2 and 3.

Key Facilitating Entities:

  • Government Entities Serving Rural Areas: Communities with infrastructure limitations or cost of power challenges and low local adoption of EVs that require innovative solutions and additional project due diligence support. (This includes cities or municipal utilities, tribal governments, and others.) 

  • State or Regional Agencies Focused on Tourism & Economic Development: These agencies can help supply communities with in-demand infrastructure and surrounding amenities, particularly in vacation and destination areas and corridors.  

  • Transportation or Joint Development Authorities: Support public transportation options in climate equity and environmental justice zones - rural and urban - to support equitable access to clean, quiet electric transportation options.

Target Geographies

Source: Climate and Economic Justice, Screening Tool 

Of the states that were not awarded funds under Round 1, all states have disadvantaged communities that could use support (see the DACs map). However, the following states and regions have a disproportionate amount of population or land mass that has not been awarded any funds to date. ZEF has the tools and approach to help support prospective CFI grant applicants in these areas.

Gap States & Regions: Tennessee Valley, Gulf States, Oregon, Montana, South Dakota, the Carolinas and Mid-Atlantic region.

How to partner and get in touch 

If you or an eligible entity are interested to learn more about ZEF Energy’s offerings and how we can help support your CFI project objectives, fill out the form below to learn more about our tailored approach to CFI and NEVI Grant Program collaboration.

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