The Trump administration has already stopped most of the federal government's adoption of electric vehicles, temporarily suspending zero-emission vehicle orders, stopping new EV charging stations from being built, and ordering existing stations to be closed, according to a new report.
The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) issued the orders, according to memos detailing the plans that have been obtained by NPR and Colorado Public Radio.
On March 3, a memo from GSA Public Buildings Service Commissioner Michael Peters, an appointee of President Donald Trump, ordered that all existing charging stations that weren't "mission-critical" should be disconnected and turned off.
The memo also stopped the installation of new chargers but allows agencies to ask for an exception if they meet the mission-critical criteria, but it does not define what that means.
The mandates are a complete reversal from those made during the Biden administration, when the federal government was directed to start the transition of the federal fleet to electric vehicles, which it said would support the EV industry while combatting climate change.
The new mandates represent a stark reversal from the Biden administration, which directed the federal government to start transitioning the federal fleet to zero-emission vehicles as part of its efforts to combat climate change and support the EV industry.
It has not been made clear how many chargers the new policy will affect. According to an internal email obtained by Colorado Public Radio, the government has ordered chargers to be closed at a federal campus in Denver.
Acting Administrator Stephen Eikiahn issued the pause on orders for new zero-emission vehicles in January.
The memo suspended GSA-funded obligations for review but noted several exceptions that included "vehicles for the federal fleet, other than zero emission vehicles."
GSA spokesperson Jorge Pineda confirmed the pause for ordering new EVs and said the GSA is working to confirm that chargers, both current and planned, are "mission critical."
Trump has often criticized electric vehicles, claiming they are expensive and the driving range is limited.
On his first day of office, he signed an executive order that revoked a goal former President Joe Biden set for battery-powered vehicles to eventually make up 50% of all new vehicles sold in the United States by 2030.
Trump said Biden's "mandate" was "insane" and would have caused "economic destruction" for the nation's autoworkers and companies.
On Tuesday, however, Trump said he would buy a new Tesla to show support for the company's owner, DOGE leader Elon Musk.
The company brought five of the vehicles, including a Cybertruck, to the White House, parking them in a driveway for Trump's inspection, where he praised them and Musk, reports NBC News.
However, Trump has also paused billions in federal spending for more public EV charging stations and wants to unwind other policies promoting zero-emissions vehicles, including the California ban on the sales of gas-powered cars by 2035.
Republicans in Congress are also proposing killing tax credits that were enacted under Biden to entice people to buy EVs. The lawmakers say that there should be a new $1,000 EV tax imposed instead. All purchases of light-duty vehicles were to be of zero-emission models by 2027, but Trump also revoked those targets.
As of 2023, the federal fleet had more than 8,500 EVs, but there are likely more, as in 2024, the GSA said the federal government began installing more than 25,000 charging ports and ordered more than 58,000 electric vehicles.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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