The federal government wants every bolt, wire, and circuit board inside a publicly funded electric vehicle charger to come from an American factory. In a proposal published in the Federal Register in early 2026, the Federal Highway Administration asked whether it should raise the domestic content requirement for EV chargers built with federal highway money from 55% to as high as 100%, a move that would mark the most aggressive Buy America mandate ever applied to the national charging network.
Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy framed the proposal as a commitment to American manufacturing. But the rule, if finalized at or near the 100% mark, would land on an industry that has struggled to hit far more modest targets and on a national charging buildout that remains years behind schedule.
What the proposal actually says
Under current rules, EV charger manufacturers receiving funds through the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program must show that more than 55% of their component costs, by value, come from U.S. production. Final assembly must also take place on American soil. The FHWA’s Buy America Q&As for EV chargers spell out how that math works, defining what counts as a “component,” how iron and steel housings are treated separately, and how manufacturers should calculate compliance.
The new Federal Register notice asks whether FHWA should modify its existing public-interest waiver to push that 55% figure upward, potentially all the way to 100%. The notice opens a public comment period, meaning the final threshold could settle anywhere between the current standard and full domestic sourcing depending on industry feedback and the agency’s own feasibility review.
That distinction matters. The 100% figure represents the ceiling of what the administration is considering, not a final rule. No phase-in timeline, exception process, or partial-waiver structure has been published alongside the proposal.
A charging network already behind schedule
The proposal arrives at a difficult moment for the federal charging program. The 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law allocated $7.5 billion to blanket the country’s highway corridors with EV chargers, with an original goal of 500,000 public chargers by 2030. Progress has been slow. As of early 2025, fewer than 70 NEVI-funded stations were open to the public, according to Department of Energy tracking data, out of thousands planned across all 50 states. Multiple states reported delays tied to permitting, utility connections, and the existing Buy America requirements.
Raising the domestic content bar now could compound those delays. The Associated Press has reported on feasibility concerns surrounding the 100% threshold, citing supply-chain limitations that could further slow deployment. The AP reporting characterizes the risk in general terms rather than identifying specific components; no charger manufacturer has yet filed a public response quantifying exactly which parts cannot be sourced domestically, but the comment period is expected to surface those details.
Political roots of the domestic content fight
Domestic content rules for EV chargers have been politically contested since the NEVI program launched. The Biden administration established the 55% threshold through a public-interest waiver, and when congressional Republicans passed a resolution to block it, President Biden vetoed the measure in January 2024, keeping the standard in place.
The Trump administration’s new proposal goes well beyond the framework it inherited. Where Biden officials defended the 55% floor as a balance between domestic manufacturing goals and deployment speed, Secretary Duffy’s announcement signals a willingness to prioritize American-made sourcing even if it means fewer chargers come online in the near term. The political logic is straightforward: stricter rules create stronger incentives for companies to build component factories in the U.S., potentially generating manufacturing jobs in states that have lobbied for them. The risk is equally clear: if manufacturers cannot meet the threshold, federal dollars sit unspent while the charging gap widens.
What to watch during the comment period
Three developments will determine whether this proposal reshapes the charging landscape or gets dialed back. First, the public comments themselves. Charger manufacturers and state departments of transportation are expected to file detailed responses outlining which components can and cannot be sourced domestically at scale. Those filings will provide the supply-chain data that FHWA has not yet published on its own.
Second, watch for any compliance data the agency releases on how current NEVI projects perform against the existing 55% standard. If a significant share of projects already struggle to clear that bar, a jump to 100% becomes harder to justify on practical grounds.
Third, the final text of the modified waiver will reveal whether FHWA builds in transition periods, component-level exceptions, or intermediate thresholds that soften the impact. A rule that phases in gradually from 55% to 75% to 100% over several years would look very different from one that demands full domestic sourcing immediately.
For companies currently building or planning federally funded charger installations, the immediate step is clear: review the Federal Register notice, map current supply chains against both the 55% and potential 100% benchmarks, and prepare comments before the filing window closes. Billions of dollars in federal highway funding hang on where that final number lands, and so does the timeline for a national charging network that American EV drivers are still waiting to use.
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*This article was researched with the help of AI, with human editors creating the final content.
