For Nevada’s more than 65,000 electric vehicle drivers, traveling long rural stretches of highway, including U.S. 50 between Tonopah and Las Vegas or U.S. 93 between Las Vegas and Wells, can still be a gamble.
There is no official state or federal website that comprehensively tracks the location of EV charging stations or whether they are operational. Unofficial sites show significant gaps across rural Nevada, raising ongoing concerns about “range anxiety” in one of the nation’s most geographically expansive states.
In 2021, state lawmakers sought to address the issue by authorizing NV Energy to spend up to $100 million over several years to expand EV charging infrastructure, with a focus on underserved communities. The funding came from Senate Bill 448, an energy measure promoted as a way to create jobs in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic while accelerating EV transportation.
The utility would be allowed to seek approval from the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada to recoup costs from ratepayers.
At the same time, Nevada was awarded $38 million in federal funds in 2022 through the bipartisan infrastructure law under the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program. Together, the state and federal investments signaled what many hoped would be a major expansion of charging access statewide.
But more than a year after NV Energy’s original timeline was to conclude, progress has fallen short of initial projections.
According to recent filings, NV Energy has spent $12.4 million of the authorized $100 million. The utility stated that additional funds will be spent, but does not intend to use the full $100 million, citing high infrastructure costs and lower-than-expected interest from property owners willing to host charging stations.
So far, 16 charging sites have been completed, with two more under construction. Once finished, the 18 sites will provide nearly 350 charging ports statewide. All but one of the completed stations are located in the Las Vegas or Reno areas.
The original plan submitted to regulators outlined the construction of 120 charging sites with more than 1,800 ports. It described the buildout as a way to “provide the greatest economic recovery benefits and opportunities for the creation of new jobs in the State.”
The proposal dedicated more than $90 million to interstate corridor charging, urban charging, public agency support, transit and school bus electrification, and recreation and tourism infrastructure. Meanwhile, another $8.7 million for planning and deployment was authorized.
However, 14 stations that were under design as of 2024 were scrapped due to “budget constraints,” according to NV Energy’s most recent filing. The utility stated projected costs would have exceeded thresholds approved by regulators and would have imposed high costs on customers.
More than half of the $12.4 million already spent went toward outreach and education, technical advisory services, operations and maintenance, and workforce development.
While NV Energy did not track the number of jobs created through the charger program, it reported that 319 journeymen and apprentices received training through the Northern Nevada Electric Training Center and Southern Nevada’s Electrical Joint Apprenticeship and Training Committee.
Environmental and advocacy groups that supported SB448 have expressed frustration with the pace of the rollout.
Meanwhile, Nevada has yet to spend any of its federal NEVI funds.
According to the NEVI Awards Dashboard, which tracks EV charging sites built with federal funding, 10 states have built out under the program, and 18 states have at least one operational station. Nevada is among the five states that have not spent any of their allocated funds and have not issued a solicitation for construction.
In late 2024, the Nevada Department of Transportation planned to begin construction in early 2025 on 40 stations. However, the program stalled after the federal administration temporarily froze the funding. Though later lifted, Congress recently clawed back more than $503 million nationwide from EV charging allocations, including $12.6 million from Nevada’s award.
NDOT now has just over $25 million remaining and estimates its first federally funded charging stations could become operational later this year.
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