2026 in EV policy: America pulled back, Britain accelerated

United States: the NEVI fight

The defining American policy story of the year was the fight over NEVI, the $5 billion formula program to build EV charging along highway corridors. In February 2025 the Trump administration suspended the program; new DOT guidance followed in August 2025. By the review’s start, 84% of NEVI formula funds remained unobligated. In January 2026, U.S. District Judge Tana Lin issued a final ruling declaring the administration had unlawfully withheld funds from states — and the FY2027 budget request seeks to cancel $2.7 billion in unobligated NEVI funds outright.

Our revised NEVI guidance slashes red tape and makes it easier for states to efficiently build out this infrastructure. While I don't agree with subsidizing green energy, we will respect Congress' will and make sure this program uses federal resources efficiently.U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, on the August 2025 guidance

Then came the July 22 letter: Secretary Duffy wrote to six Senate leaders proposing to eliminate the Highway Trust Fund’s mass transit account — putting more than 85% of federal public transit and passenger rail funding at risk, per the American Public Transportation Association — while also cutting Complete Streets programs, bicycle-lane funding and grants for EV charging infrastructure. The NEVI network kept growing anyway: in September 2026, North Carolina’s DOT announced a new round of NEVI awards, seven new locations beyond five stations funded in 2024.

United Kingdom: the grant got bigger

Britain moved the other way. The Electric Car Grant — offering up to £3,750 off qualifying new EVs in band 1 and £1,500 in band 2, for models priced at £37,000 or less — was extended to 2030 with £1.3 billion in additional funding under the Autumn Budget 2025. Chargepoint installation grants rose more than 40%, to £500 per unit from April 1, 2026 through March 2027, with the grant schemes simplified from eight to five. The government committed £600 million to expand the public network, which numbered 88,500 charge points.

The backdrop: official statistics recorded 119,080 public charging devices in the UK on April 1, 2026, including 27,372 rated rapid or above — and battery-electric registrations reached 284,579 in the first half of 2026, up 26.6% year-on-year.

The contrast is the story. One market treated public charging as infrastructure worth defending in court; the other treated it as infrastructure worth funding. Both markets kept selling EVs — but the policy trajectories set very different terms for the buildout still to come.