Pennsylvania is spending $37 million to add 515 EV charging ports around Philadelphia

Five counties around Philadelphia are in line for 515 new public EV charging ports paid for with $37 million in federal money. PennDOT announced the awards on Oct. 28, and they cover Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties. The state says the new ports lift charger availability across the southeastern region by 27% and inside Philadelphia itself by 53%.

Save more, waste less: The Cool Down’s newsletter sends smart, simple changes that help you and the planet in your everyday life.

Subscribe to The Cool Down →

We may earn a commission if you sign up.

The money comes from the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program, known as NEVI, created under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Pennsylvania’s five-year allocation is $171.5 million, and the Federal Highway Administration certified the state’s highway-corridor build-out on Sept. 22, 2025, which freed it to spend on broader community sites such as curbsides and parking lots.

PennDOT’s Community Charging awards by recipient

PennDOT’s own announcement puts the investment at $37 million for more than 500 additional ports, and the itemized figures appear in Electrek’s report and a project-by-project summary from MGrid. The largest single award, about $7.2 million, goes to PositivEnergy for 54 DC fast-charging ports at 11 Philadelphia Parking Authority lots. PNE Solutions America receives roughly $4.5 million for 24 DC fast ports at five Philadelphia retail sites.

The curbside component is the widest in reach. It’s Electric PA, Inc. was awarded $2.93 million for 157 on-street Level 2 ports across 13 Philadelphia neighborhoods, while Voltpost, per Electrek, is installing 62 curbside ports across the four suburban counties. Those three awards alone account for 235 of the 515 ports, with more than 30 smaller grants covering the rest. Tesla won two awards of $392,000 each for sites in Broomall and Plymouth Meeting, and EVgo, Blink, Wawa, the University of Pennsylvania and two townships also appear among the recipients.

Suburban sites are dominated by retail hosts and public land. MGrid’s itemization lists EVgo at $907,955 for 12 DC fast ports at Warminster Town Center, Regis Assets at $1 million for eight DC fast ports at the Marketplace at Neshaminy in Bensalem, and Blink Network at $743,928 for a Royal Farms in Ridley Park. Wawa appears with eight-port DC fast sites in Bensalem, Paoli and on Oxford Avenue, plus 16 ports across Colmar and Horsham. Each eight-port Wawa site works out to roughly $848,000.

The smallest grants go to Level 2 installations on public land: $280,000 for 16 ports at the University of Pennsylvania’s Penn Park and Penn Museum, $110,820 for four ports at Buckingham Township’s Holicong Park, and $97,600 for four ports at East Vincent Township’s municipal building. According to MGrid, PennDOT Secretary Mike Carroll announced the awards in Philadelphia, and the summary carries no direct quotation from him.

The $100 million statewide pot and the southeastern earmark

The southeastern awards are the first completed tranche of a larger plan. In February PennDOT said it would direct $100 million in federal funds to community charging across four regions, with about $34 million earmarked for the southeast, according to electrive. The $37 million awarded exceeds that earmark by about $3 million, and none of the sources reviewed explains the difference.

The planning agency for the region framed the program broadly from the start. Ariella Maron, executive director of the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission, said in DVRPC’s February notice that the investments let people reach destinations “from rural areas to the urban core.” Local planners prioritized sites, but any publicly accessible location could apply. NEVI generally covers up to 80% of eligible project costs, so each awardee has to fund the remainder.

County officials welcomed the round in February. Josh Maxwell, chair of the Chester County Board of Commissioners, called it “a very exciting and meaningful investment for communities across Chester County,” which he noted has more electric vehicle registrations than any other county in the Commonwealth. The same electrive report adds that more than 80,000 charging sessions had been recorded since the first NEVI-funded site opened in December 2023, and that $54 million had already been committed to public charging under NEVI before the community round began. Applications remain open elsewhere in the state. Electrek reports that the western region closes on Nov. 20 and the central and eastern regions on March 12, 2027, so more awards will follow this one.

54 NEVI stations built, and what comes after the awards

Electrek says Pennsylvania has built 54 NEVI-funded charging stations so far, more than double any other state. That figure sits awkwardly beside February reporting from electrive, which cited the governor’s office as counting 29 completed sites with another 54 in planning or construction, so the 54 is best read as Electrek’s current tally rather than an audited total.

These 515 ports are awards, not yet chargers. PennDOT’s estimated schedule has environmental reviews running from November 2026 through January 2027 and agreements being executed in January and February, with construction and commissioning afterward. Community stations must have at least four ports, at least 6 kW per port, two ADA-compliant parking spaces and J1772 or CCS connectors on every port, and equipment has to meet Buy America rules.

The unresolved piece is timing. PennDOT’s release is silent on when the first of the 515 ports will energize, and the 27% and 53% increases depend on all of them being built to the stated specifications.

This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.

Save more, waste less: Subscribe to The Cool Down →

We may earn a commission if you sign up.