Kwik Trip is examining President Donald Trump’s executive order regarding the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program. The Department of Transportation (DOT) last week froze the NEVI Formula Program after the president signed an executive order rescinding several energy policies.
“We are still trying to understand what the executive order means for us, and what we are going to do moving forward,” Ben Leibl, spokesperson at the La Crosse, Wisconsin-based convenience-store chain, told CSP regarding its Kwik Charge program.
In 2021, the DOT launched the NEVI program, and it was signed into law by President Joe Biden. The program includes $5 billion worth of grants to the 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico to support the installation of EV charging infrastructure, with multiple rounds of funding, planned from 2022 to 2026.
CSP reported in January that the first three Kwik Trips with fast electric chargers were up and running in Wisconsin as part of the NEVI Formula Program.
Kwik Trip is No. 11 on CSP’s 2024 Top 202 ranking of U.S. convenience-store chains by store count.
The c-store locations, which started operating the chargers in December, are in Ashland, Chippewa Falls and Menomonie. The program, which offers direct-current fast chargers (DCFCs) to EV customers, includes connectors for Combined Charging Standard (CCS) and the North American Charging Standard (NACS), allowing drivers of almost any type of EV to charge in a safe, clean and staffed 24/7 location, Kwik Trip said.
“We were awarded 24 locations as part of Wisconsin’s NEVI program,” Leibl told CSP at the time. “We will continue to add more locations throughout 2025.”
Kwik Trip has had EV chargers at stores before, but none has been the fast chargers like the ones being installed now, Leibl said last month.
In President Trump’s executive order “Unleashing American Energy” on Jan. 20, he said under the heading “Terminating the Green New Deal” that “all agencies shall immediately pause the disbursement of funds appropriated through the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 … or the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act ... including but not limited to funds for electric vehicle charging stations made available through the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Formula Program and the Charging and Fueling Infrastructure Discretionary Grant Program, and shall review their processes, policies and programs for issuing grants, loans, contracts or any other financial disbursements of such appropriated funds for consistency with the law and the policy outlined in … this order.”
A letter from DOT Feb. 6 states it is rescinding the current NEVI Formula Program Guidance, and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is updating it to align with current U.S. DOT policy and priorities. FHWA aims to publish the new draft in the spring.
The rescinding means an immediate suspension on the approval of all state electric vehicle infrastructure deployment plans for all fiscal years. No new obligations may occur under the NEVI Formula Program until the updated final NEVI Formula Program Guidance is issued and new state plans are submitted and approved, the letter said.
Instructions for the submission of new state plans for all fiscal years will be included in the updated final NEVI Formula Program Guidance. States will be held harmless for not implementing their existing plans. Until new guidance is issued, reimbursement of existing obligations will be allowed so that financial commitments are not disrupted, the letter said.
The National Association of Truck Stop Owners (NATSO) and Society of Independent Gasoline Marketers of America (SIGMA) issued a statement in response to the suspension.
"The NEVI program has in many states helped catalyze existing gas stations and truck stops to install fast, state-of-the-art EV charging stations,” said David Fialkov, executive vice president of government affairs for NATSO and SIGMA. “In other states, NEVI has been implemented poorly, with chargers either still not built or, if they are, they're in places nobody wants to stop. We are encouraged that the Trump administration is reevaluating rather than abandoning the NEVI Program and intend to work closely with the administration to share our experience and keep what's been working, while reconsidering clearly unproductive approaches.”
Kwik Trip operates in Wisconsin, Minnesota and northern Michigan under the Kwik Trip name, and in Iowa, Illinois and South Dakota under the Kwik Star banner. Kwik Trip was recently named the best gas station brand in the United States for the fifth year in a row, according to the 2024 USA Today 10Best Readers’ Choice Awards. The family-owned company has about 850 locations and is one of the biggest independently held c-store chains in the country.
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