Biden-Harris Admin Announces $51M to Build Future for All Americans to Ride and Drive Electric

May 18, 2023

The Biden-Harris administration announced the $51 million Joint Office of Energy and Transportation (Joint Office) Ride and Drive Electric funding opportunity to support the rapid transition to electrified transportation and catalyze private sector investments in clean transportation.

The Ride and Drive Electric funding opportunity will be administered by the Joint Office, which was created through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) to leverage the combined expertise of the U.S. Departments of Energy and Transportation to build out a national electric vehicle (EV) charging network that can build public confidence and fill gaps in rural, disadvantaged, and hard-to-reach locations.

"This Ride and Drive Electric funding opportunity will ensure that we have the workers and tools to install, operate, and maintain our critical network of electric vehicle charging infrastructure," said Gabe Klein, executive director of the Joint Office. "At the same time, we're creating opportunities for all Americans to ride or drive electric by exploring how to best integrate EVs and chargers in ways that deliver mobility, economic, or other benefits to underserved communities by encouraging and testing new models for electrified mobility access paired with EV charger deployment."

The Ride and Drive Electric funding opportunity will advance the Joint Office mission by:

• Enhancing EV charging resilience

• Providing equitable access and opportunity in electrification through community-driven models for EV charging deployment and workforce development

• Improving EV charging performance and reliability.

Outcomes from this funding opportunity may include increased industrial capacity, competition, and redundancy for validating and testing charging equipment, new business models for electrified shared mobility and fleet-based services, and increased opportunities for underserved communities through new jobs and training resources, among others. Aligning with the President's Justice40 Initiative, all applicants must outline the benefits that will be delivered to disadvantaged communities through the Ride and Drive Electric funding opportunity.

Read the full Ride and Drive Electric funding opportunity announcement. The submission deadline for concept papers is June 16, 2023. Only applicants who have submitted an eligible concept paper will be eligible to submit a full application. The submission deadline for full applications is July 28, 2023.