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#65: Federal Court rules Trump Admin must release NEVI funds

Tesla partners with Pilot Travel Centers, Court orders NEVI funding must proceed, Monta AI announced

Author

Steve Taylor
January 31, 2026

The Business and Policy of Charging Infrastructure

The 3 big stories

  • Pilot Travel Centers partners with Tesla to deploy Semi Chargers

  • Federal Court rules Trump Administration must release NEVI funds

  • Monta builds foundation for autonomous EV charging operations

Plus, featured jobs and news.

Steve

Industry News

Pilot Travel Centers announced a partnership with Tesla to install Semi Chargers at select locations along I-5, I-10, and other major corridors.

The first sites open summer 2026 across California, Georgia, Nevada, New Mexico, and Texas.

Each location will host four to eight charging stalls using Tesla's V4 cabinet technology, delivering up to 1.2 megawatts per stall.

The network initially serves Tesla Semi trucks exclusively, with potential future expansion to other manufacturers.

Tesla claims the majority of a Semi's 500-mile range can recover in 30 minutes, matching mandatory driver break periods.

Steve’s take

This is Pilot's first meaningful partnership related to heavy-duty charging infrastructure, positioning the company as an important leader in fleet electrification.

Today, Tesla Semi is the only heavy-duty electric truck operating at any real scale, and Tesla is one of the few companies capable of delivering charging power levels that long-haul freight actually requires.

That said, the strategically significant part of this partnership is the corridor selection, not the hardware. I-5 and I-10 are two of the highest-volume freight routes in North America, and Pilot’s existing footprint gives Tesla instant access to premium locations without the development cost or timelines.

What’s equally important is what Pilot didn’t announce. There’s no mention of public funding, joint-venture structure, or third-party operator. This looks like a straightforward commercial agreement between two private companies deploying their own capital for heavy-duty electrification.

Power and Policy

Earlier this week, a U.S. District Court (Western District of Washington) ruled that the Trump administration unlawfully withheld federal funding for the NEVI program, which Congress authorized under the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA).  

The judge — Tana Lin — found that the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) and Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) acted outside their legal authority when they suspended, revoked, or refused to release NEVI funds after President Trump’s executive order to halt disbursements.  The ruling bars the federal government from withholding or cancelling NEVI funding or previously approved state implementation plans unless allowed by statute — meaning the money must now be made available to states.  

NEVI has about $5 billion in federal funds appropriated by Congress to help states build a nationwide electric vehicle charging network.  In the court’s judgment, roughly $1 billion in funds previously withheld — and potentially more — must be released to states, including Wisconsin, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, Arizona, and others.  The court ruled that the administration’s actions violated the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) because:

  • The DOT/FHWA failed to follow required procedures before pausing or revoking funds.

  • Agencies lacked statutory authority to unilaterally stop or interfere with NEVI funding Congress directed.  

“Such capriciousness runs counter to the Administrative Procedure Act; it is simply not how things are lawfully done,” Judge Lin wrote in her order. The lawsuit was brought by a coalition of 20 Democratic-led states and the District of Columbia, joined by state attorneys general and environmental organizations.  

Rob’s take

What this means is that going forward states can resume NEVI implementation plans and access previously withheld federal funds for EV charging infrastructure.  The court permanently prevents future unilateral freezes or revocations of NEVI funds by the Transportation Department outside of what Congress explicitly permits.  DOT has not made any statement about further appeals, so for now NEVI moves forward.

Emerging Tech

Monta has launched Monta AI, a built in product that lets charging operators ask questions and instantly understand what is happening across their network. It helps spot patterns, diagnose failing chargers, and recommend actions from pricing changes to firmware updates.

Monta AI runs on real operational data. It connects directly to anonymized charger logs, firmware data, hardware manuals, years of Monta support tickets, and charging session data from across their massive network. This is the same information Monta engineers use to troubleshoot issues, now available to operators without deep technical expertise and in seconds.

Casper Rasmussen, CEO and Co-Founder of Monta, told EVPowerInsights, “Monta AI is designed to take work off operators’ plates so they can run more chargers with the same teams and focus on scaling instead of constant firefighting.”

In the short term, Monta AI is moving beyond data insights into workflows, allowing the AI to take action across the network. The long term vision is fully autonomous operations, where operators oversee the system instead of running it day to day.

Steve's take

Automated diagnostics represent the operational infrastructure layer the charging industry needs to scale beyond boutique deployments.

Most charging networks fail not because the hardware is fundamentally broken, but because operators lack the technical depth to accurately diagnose issues across hundreds of charger models.

Monta's data advantage compounds over time.

Every session processed and every support ticket resolved feeds the model and makes it more accurate for the next operator. This creates a compounding competitive advantage that only pure play SaaS platforms can build. Hardware manufacturers and closed ecosystem CPMS providers are structurally incapable of replicating it.

If one operator can manage thousands of chargers with the same quality previously requiring a full NOC team, the unit economics of charging networks fundamentally changes.

Lower operational overhead means higher margins and more capital available for site expansion.

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⚡️Steve and Rob

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