Ride and Drive Electric Funding Awards
Office: Joint Office of Energy and Transportation
FOA Number: DE-FOA-0002881
FOA Amount: $51,000,000
In 2024, the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation (Joint Office), through the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), awarded $46.5 million in new federal funding for projects to improve performance, reliability, and resiliency of electric vehicle (EV) charging while strengthening the EV workforce and ensuring equity.
The funding was administered by the Joint Office through DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE). Topics in the Joint Office’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 funding opportunity included:
- Enhancing EV Charging Resiliency.
- Equitable Access and Opportunity in Electrification.
- Improving EV Charging Performance and Reliability.
This funding opportunity announcement (FOA) was designed to support the goal that 40% of the overall benefits of specific federal investments go to disadvantaged communities in accordance with the Justice40 Initiative.
Read the Joint Office’s FY 2023 Ride and Drive Electric FOA.
Topic Areas
Topic 1 – Enhancing EV Charging Resiliency
Enhancing EV Charging Resiliency
- Number of awards: 8
- Total awarded: $11,008,479
Funds are being leveraged to establish teams across the United States to develop resiliency plans and strategies to ensure continuity of operations and services of EV charging infrastructure. Plans developed in these projects support ongoing federal investments in EV charging and transportation electrification, such as the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Formula Program.
Topic 2 – Equitable Access and Opportunity in Electrification
2a – Community-Driven Models for Electric Vehicle Charging Deployment
- Number of awards: 10
- Total awarded: $12,286,965
Funds contribute to projects that assess, develop, and/or test business models that integrate EV and/or charger deployment in ways that deliver mobility, economic, and other benefits to Justice40 and underserved communities.
2b – Workforce Development
- Number of awards: 7
- Total awarded: $9,940,375
Funds support a diverse and highly skilled workforce within the electrified transportation industry that furthers the deployment and maintenance of EV charging equipment. These funds are helping expand access to career-track training and employment through preapprenticeships, industry placement, occupational training programs, and more.
Topic 3 – Improving EV Charging Performance and Reliability
3a – Increasing Commercial Capacity for Testing and Certification of High-Power Electric Vehicle Chargers
- Number of awards: 4
- Total awarded: $9,327,753
Topic 3a projects are increasing industrial capacity, competition, redundancy, and broad access to validation testing and certification for direct current fast chargers with rated power capacity between 150 kW and 1 MW.
3b – Validating Public EV Charging Infrastructure Real-World Performance and Reliability
- Number of awards: 1
- Total awarded: $3,934,628
The Topic 3b project is establishing a team to create a national baseline for the state of EV charging focused on user experience. The funds also employ potential EV workforce individuals to receive training and complete assessments on the current EV infrastructure. This work is creating a training program for state departments of transportation to be used nationwide.
Review the full list of Ride and Drive awardees. Learn more about this and other funding opportunities on the Joint Office's Funding Opportunities webpage.
Additional Information
- For FOA-specific support, email FOA3214@netl.doe.gov.
- Sign up for the EERE funding email list to get notified of new EERE funding opportunities, and the Powering Progress e-newsletter from the Joint Office to stay current with the latest news and updates.