Issue Brief | Planning for Equitable EV Charging: A Review of Justice40 Elements in National EV Infrastructure State Plans

By Sherif Halaweish, Climate Fellow and Matthew Goetz, Associate Mitigation Director

As states across the country prepare to implement a new round of funding for EV charging infrastructure by updating their National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program plans, Georgetown Climate Center (GCC) reviewed all 52 current plans from U.S. states, D.C., and Puerto Rico and summarized elements related to the Justice40 Initiative (Justice40). GCC recently published our findings as a dashboard resource for state policymakers to support equitable implementation of the NEVI Program, developed in partnership with National Association of State Energy Officials (NASEO), American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), and Atlas Public Policy.

The 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) distributed billions of dollars to states for transportation and infrastructure investments, and prior GCC analysis shows that state decisionmaking on transportation and infrastructure investments can substantially impact transportation emissions. Similarly, how states choose to implement federal funding will substantially affect equity and environmental justice (EJ) outcomes, and the ultimate success of the Justice40 Initiative. 

Our analysis of how states are planning their EV charging investments under the NEVI Program can provide insights into how Justice40 is being implemented in practice in one of the Justice40-covered programs. The NEVI Program is a unique opportunity to assess Justice40 implementation by states due to the published state plans. The review of state plans provides several interesting insights described below; however, the scope of this analysis is limited to the content of the NEVI state plans for fiscal year (FY) 2024, and does not include an assessment of “on-the-ground” implementation of EV charging investments.

A review of the NEVI state plans for 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico for FY 2024, reveals that: 

• States took a wide range of approaches in how they are measuring the benefits to communities of NEVI investments, with some states providing detailed methodologies and tracking plans. 
• Many states are building on existing state-specific equity and EJ processes and resources to identify Disadvantaged Communities and track Justice40 implementation.
• Federal guidance and templates significantly shape state plans to achieve Justice40 goals. 

Background on Justice40 and the NEVI Program

The Biden Administration, in one of its first executive orders, created the Justice40 Initiative, a historic shift in the federal government’s commitment to environmental justice. Justice40 directs 40 percent of overall benefits from certain climate, clean energy, transportation, affordable and sustainable housing, and other investments to “flow to” Disadvantaged Communities^{See footnote 1}  that are marginalized by underinvestment and overburdened by pollution. The White House and federal agencies have supported this executive order by identifying 518 federal programs and grants as Justice40 “covered” programs that must follow this commitment. 

The NEVI Program, established by the BIL, is a transportation formula program that allocates $5 billion in federal funding over five years to the 50 states, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia to deploy a convenient, reliable, and equitable network of EV fast chargers throughout the country, particularly along designated Alternative Fuel Corridors (AFCs) on the Interstate Highway System. The program is managed by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), with support from the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation (Joint Office). To receive NEVI Program funding, states are required to submit EV infrastructure deployment plans to FHWA and the Joint Office for approval, with annual plan updates required. The NEVI state plan updates for fiscal year 2025 are due by September 1, 2024.^{See footnote 2} 

As of July 17, 2024, ten NEVI-funded stations have opened to the public in Hawaii, Maine, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont. Hundreds of additional NEVI charging sites will be built over the coming months, with 23 states in the process of awarding contracts or breaking ground on more than 550 new charging sites – an estimated 2,068 fast charging plugs. Atlas Public Policy has estimated that the full NEVI Program will provide enough funding for around 5,000 sites with 20,000 charging plugs. These chargers will fill significant gaps in high-speed charging along highway corridors. Other federal programs from the BIL and IRA provide funding for deployment of EV chargers, including in communities, for electric school buses and transit buses, and other applications. 

Findings from Review of Justice40 Elements in State NEVI Plans

GCC reviewed all 52 FY 2024 NEVI state plans for elements related to Justice40. The NEVI state plans provide insight into Justice40 implementation, because the states are required by FHWA guidance to include in their plans how the program implementation will be consistent with the Justice40 executive order and interim Justice40 Guidance by directing at least 40 percent of the benefits towards DACs. GCC examined: 

• How states defined and identified DACs, 
• What benefits to DACs the states were planning to track, and 
• How states were proposing to measure or track benefits. 

The full results of our analysis are available in an interactive dashboard. 

Finding #1: States took a wide range of approaches in how they are measuring the benefits to communities of NEVI investments, with some states providing detailed methodologies and tracking plans. 

In their plans, states identified a range of benefits from deployment of NEVI charging states to be measured for assessing Justice40 implementation. However, several benefits were commonly identified by states, including the following most commonly identified benefits: 

1. Reduce environmental exposures to transportation emissions (41 state plans).
2. Improve clean transportation access through the location of chargers (38 state plans).
3. Increase the clean energy job pipeline, job training, and enterprise creation in Disadvantaged Communities (34 state plans).
4. Decrease the transportation energy cost burden by enabling reliable access to affordable charging (25 state plans).

State Plans varied significantly in the methods proposed to track benefits to DACs and the level of detail for how those benefits would be measured. Several states provided detailed plans on how benefits to DACs will be measured. For example, state Plans for California, Illinois, Kansas, Maryland, and Massachusetts include specific methodologies for tracking benefits, including metrics, data sources, analysis methods, goals, and baselines. Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) plans to track reduced “environmental exposures to transportation emissions” by establishing baseline of GHG emissions and air quality data and modeling emissions reductions based on station usage data. MDOT will follow this benefit tracking with community validation from identified DACs by using focus groups, surveys, and community engagement meetings. California is working with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory to develop methods for calculating direct and indirect benefits. Some states briefly described potential strategies to track benefits at a high level, while other states did not provide any tracking methodology.

State Plans also varied significantly in how states defined and mapped DACs in their jurisdictions. Several states, including Colorado and Massachusetts, extensively described how they defined DACs (e.g,. based on specific map and data metrics), how many census tracts and communities were found, and how they combined federal definitions of DACs and state definitions of environmental justice communities to refine their processes. Some states, like Connecticut, Indiana, Rhode Island, and Virginia, described in their plans how they incorporated guidance from community engagement and input from community-based organizations and stakeholders.

Finding #2: Many states are building on existing state-specific equity and EJ processes and resources to identify Disadvantaged Communities and track Justice40 implementation.

While the Justice40 Initiative is a federal equity commitment by the Biden Administration, many states have also made state-specific equity commitments or passed laws that identify disadvantaged, overburdened, or environmental justice communities. In their NEVI state plans, many of these states incorporate both federal guidance^{See footnote 3}  and existing state initiatives to identify DACs and track benefits from the NEVI Program.

The California EPA is required under a state statute to identify low income communities (LICs) and DACs – at least 25 percent of funds from California’s Cap and Trade Program must be allocated towards DACs. For NEVI Program implementation, California has built upon this state process to identify Justice40-designated communities and state-designated DACs and LICs. California’s NEVI deployment plan has a goal of providing 40 percent of NEVI formula funds for projects that provide benefits to Justice40 designated communities and at least 50 percent of funds for projects benefiting California designated DACs or LICs. The California Energy Commission (CEC) is required by state law to assess distribution of and access to public EV charging station infrastructure to inform future deployment of California’s Clean Transportation Program. The CEC analysis will inform how California identifies, tracks, and measures benefits to communities from NEVI Program investments. The underlying state tracking requirements complement a comprehensive Justice40 benefits tracking methodology included in California’s NEVI state plan. 

Massachusetts law designates a state definition of a Disadvantaged Community – called “EJ population” – identified using many of the factors included in the federal DAC definition, as well as race and language indicators. The state is combining Justice40 mapping with its state DOT mapping of EJ populations in order to more accurately delineate Disadvantaged Communities and coordinate with other state programs. Moreover, the state’s NEVI Program implementation has an overall goal and metric to ensure that the percentage of the state’s EJ population within five miles of a NEVI-served zone is the same as the percentage of non-EJ populations within five miles of a NEVI-served zone.  

In Connecticut, the state is engaging with its Equity and Environmental Justice Advisory Council to support NEVI Program implementation. The Council supports the prioritization of environmental justice considerations into state programs, policies, and activities to improve the health and environment of the state-defined “Environmental Justice Communities.” Connecticut DOT will coordinate with this council to equitably implement the state’s NEVI Program. Connecticut is also combining Justice40 mapping with its own mapping of Environmental Justice Distressed Municipalities to coordinate with other state programs.

Finding #3: Federal guidance and templates significantly shape state plans to achieve Justice40 goals. 

FHWA’s NEVI Program Guidance has had a significant impact on Justice40 implementation, including the identification of Disadvantaged Communities and the identification of benefits to DACs.  The initial guidance for the first iteration of NEVI state plans did not provide mandatory requirements for identification of DACs, and state definitions and mapping of DACs varied significantly across the states.^{See footnote 4}  Updated program guidance for FY 2025 NEVI state plans directs states to identify DACs using the Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool (CEJST), developed by the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) and directs that that state plans should “thoroughly discuss” how they identified DACs. These changes in guidance may result in more consistency in how states are identifying DACs for NEVI implementation, as well as consistency with identification of DACs in other federal Justice40 covered programs.

Another example of the influence of federal guidance is in the selection of which benefits to DACs states are tracking. FHWA’s NEVI Program Guidance includes 10 example benefits for Justice40 implementation, and the majority of states selected those benefits or very similar benefits. Thirty-nine states chose at least three of the 10 benefits provided by NEVI Program Guidance, and 19 states listed at least half of the example benefits from FHWA in their NEVI state plan.^{See footnote 5}  

The FY 2024 federal guidance included a state plan template with suggestions for how states could discuss benefit methodologies, such as by including: metrics used to measure benefits, data sources and analysis methods to track metrics, baseline and goals set for each benefit, and community validation of receipt of benefits. Many state plan updates included some or all of this strategy. NEVI Program Guidance for FY2025 NEVI plan updates has provided clearer expectations for DAC benefit tracking moving forward. Guidance now expresses that:

“state plans should thoroughly discuss the process to identify, quantify, and measure benefits to DACs. The State could accomplish this by describing what metric will be used to measure benefits to DACs along with the data sources and analysis methods used to track those metrics. The State should describe how a baseline and goals may be set for each benefit area, and how communities will be engaged to validate the receipt of benefits.”

New guidance also encouraged states to identify if the solicitation process that the states used, to award funds for the installation, operation, and/or maintenance of NEVI charging stations, included criteria related to equity and Justice40. This updated guidance provides additional clarity to states, many of which indicated in state plans that they were awaiting further guidance, standards, and tools on how to track benefits.  

To aid states, the federal Joint Office of Energy and Transportation also has supported research and recently published reports on Justice40 related metric development for evaluation of state electric vehicle charging infrastructure programs and strategies to enhance equitable deployment of EV programs.

Conclusion

The analysis of Justice40 elements in NEVI state plans shows that states are taking a variety of approaches towards achieving the goals of the Justice40 Initiative, and have significant flexibility from FHWA in program implementation. Several states have provided detailed plans on how benefits to DACs will be measured, in many cases building on existing state-specific equity and EJ processes. Other states have provided limited information to date and have requested additional federal tools and resources. The revised federal guidance directing FY 2025 State Plans establishes additional, more specific requirements for states – in particular regarding the measuring and quantification of benefits to DACs – which may result in a greater level of detail and consistency across states as plans are updated this year. 

The NEVI state plans provide valuable transparency into how federal agencies and states are working together to implement the Justice40 Initiative, and can support engagement by local governments, community groups, and other stakeholders in the state planning process. GCC’s analysis of NEVI plans is intended to increase understanding of the NEVI Program and the Justice40 Initiative; however, it does not provide a comprehensive assessment of the equitable implementation of the NEVI program, as it does not include an evaluation of community engagement processes or evaluate ‘on-the-ground’ implementation of program funds.

The evaluation of Justice40 elements in NEVI state plans may provide broader insights to federal agencies implementing other Justice40 covered programs. For example, there is strong evidence of the value of federal guidance and templates in supporting state implementation. However, the NEVI Program is unusual in requiring states to submit published plans describing funding implementation. Additionally, for other federal funding programs, federal agencies could explore opportunities to encourage or require published plans that describe how federal, state, and local agencies are planning to implement Justice40. This documentation could support public engagement and also identify implementation challenges where federal technical assistance could be provided.