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Policy and Regulatory Gaps in Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure in the United States: Challenges and Opportunities

Authors

  • Joubin Zahiri Khameneh Department of Decision Science, Paul College School of Business and Economics, University of New Hampshire, USA

    joubin.zahirikhameneh@unh.edu

  • Fagbenle Emmanuel Department of Decision Science, Paul College School of Business and Economics, University of New Hampshire, USA

Abstract

US electric vehicle charging facilities are not keeping with demand even following the 5-billion federal investment in the program of the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. By mid 2025, there are only 57 charging stations across 15 states, in the rural regions the coverage is lower than 25 percent of what is required and out of every 5 chargers 1 fails because of mechanical difficulties or flaws in the equipment. The paper reviews the policy and regulatory loopholes that led to these failures based on a qualitative case study design that includes the analysis of federal and state policy documents, Government Accountability Office reports, Government Energy performance information and media coverage of January 2024 to October 2025. It is possible to identify three urgent issues identified in the analysis: allowing processes longer than one year to postpone the construction discourages private funding; lack of federal-state coordination leads to unspent funds and redundant effort; deployment serves the wealthy urban population most, and 94 percent of the rural counties do not have sufficient coverage of critical infrastructure, with low-income populations the most in need of community-provided charging. These delays are a result of inefficiencies in governance as opposed to technical constraints. This paper adds a Triple Vulnerability Framework that shows the interacting influence of environmental stress factors on institutions and social injustice as a determinant of infrastructure resilience. Among other suggestions, it indicates compulsory resilience auditing on federally funded projects, real time charger checking mechanisms, and documents financing structures to orient funds towards experiences that lack adequate services. These reforms are essential to enable the transition to electric vehicles to create equal transportation and energy disparities instead of bringing about equitable decarbonization.

Keywords:

Charging Infrastructure Electric Vehicles Equity Grid Capacity Interoperability NEVI Program Policy Gaps Regulatory Challenges Sustainability United States

Article information

Journal

Journal of Management, and Development Research

Volume (Issue)

2(2), (2025)

Pages

149-156

Published

30-11-2025

How to Cite

Khameneh, J. Z., & Emmanuel, F. (2025). Policy and Regulatory Gaps in Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure in the United States: Challenges and Opportunities. Journal of Management, and Development Research, 2(2), 149-156. https://doi.org/10.69739/jmdr.v2i2.1236

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