US government has electric car charging stations removed from federal buildings

The US government wants to remove electric vehicle chargers from all federal properties. According to the General Services Administration (GSA), this affects hundreds of charging stations with an estimated 8,000 connections that are available to federal employees for charging their cars. According to the order, these are "not mission-critical".

The agency, which manages federal government buildings and vehicles, is also expected to phase out all electric vehicles purchased under the Biden administration. The official guidelines instructing individual federal employees to begin removing the chargers are expected to be announced next week. This will not happen overnight, as contracts with electricity suppliers would have to be terminated first, according to an agency official who asked not to be named.

The move is not surprising given the rejection of electric mobility and so-called green energy by the current US presidency and the movement. President Trump also intends to abolish other regulations, such as California's stricter emissions standards and the requirement there that all cars sold in the state should be all-electric by 2035. The Inflation Reduction Act passed during President Biden's term still contained significant funding for the switch to green energy and money for public charging stations for electric cars. A large chunk of this was 975 million US dollars for the GSA, which was intended to improve federal buildings with sustainable technologies. Funding for electromobility is now to be discontinued, including in other areas that were originally to be subsidized with a total of 3 billion US dollars.

No problem for Elon Musk

Presidential advisor Elon Musk is unimpressed by this, which may also be because the abolition of charging stations has no negative impact on the Supercharger charging infrastructure of his car company Tesla. Analysts are also speculating on strategic reasons: Fewer conventional charging stations, combined with restrictive tariffs for foreign car manufacturers, could play into the Tesla Group's hands.

Regardless of strategic considerations, the charging infrastructure of the authorities was also criticized for other reasons. Often, only outdated and slow charging technology, including CHAdeMO plugs, was available, which often failed and – contrary to what government circles claimed – was generally not a free service for employees. Critics see the reduction more as a fitting accompaniment to the personnel cuts of federal employees. The measure also fits in with Trump's strategy of promoting fossil fuels as the core of energy policy, while the EU has launched a new program for 2027 to expand the charging station infrastructure.

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